Road to recovery to cost £12.5 billion

The estimated cost of repairing much of Northern Ireland’s public buildings and transport networks currently stands at £12.5 billion, the Minister of Finance and Personnel Dr Seán Farren has said.

Dr Farren told delegates at the annual dinner of the Chartered Institute Of Building, in Derry that years of inadequate funding and investment had left Northern Ireland’s physical infrastructure in an “unacceptable state”.

“Unfortunately, we do not have the resources needed to rectify this problem,” Dr Farren said.

“We will continue to utilise whatever funding is available from Europe and from other international sources, but the reality is that there will always be a gap between what we want to do and can afford to do.”

The Minister explained that with a deficit of around £4 billion his department was looking towards Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and the Private Finance Initiative as a way of delivering funds.

The Minister said that the Executive had established a working group to examine the use of private finance in major service provisions.

“The working group has been examining all aspects of PPP including the benefits and constraints of this approach,” Dr Farren said.

“They have also been taking evidence from the public, private, and voluntary sectors and from the trade unions.”

Dr Farren confirmed that the PPP Review would be completed by the end of March and was due to be published by the Executive for public consultation shortly thereafter.

“In conclusion”, the Minister said, “I and my ministerial colleagues are well aware that PPPs are not the panacea for all our infrastructure problems, but I firmly believe that there are potentially significant benefits to be gained from their intelligent use.”

The Chartered Institute of Building within Ireland consists of some 2,000 members in five centres, located in Belfast, Derry, Dublin, Limerick and Cork and sets the standards for construction management and administers them through examination, competence assessment, and accreditation of college and university courses.

(AMcE)