Funds will help NRA’s planning

SOME 8 billion will be invested on Irish motorways and 2.3bn spent on public transport over the next five years, Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy said in the Budget yesterday.

The funding is committed for the 2004 to 2008 period and will allow the National Roads Authority and other agencies, such as CIÉ, to carry out their programmes in a planned manner, the minister said.

"This is a rolling investment programme or financial envelope that will allow for a structured, planned approach," he told the Dáil. Mr McCreevy also said he was going to reform public contracts to ensure contractors bear the brunt of increases in inflation and other costs.

He also intends to end the system where consultants gain from increased construction costs and time over-runs, by bringing in more fixed price contracts.

In relation to road investment, 1.227bn will be spent in 2004, 1.36bn in 2005, 1.375bn in 2006, 1.495bn in 2007 and 1.57bn in 2008 a total of 7.027bn along with an expected 1bn in Public Private Partnership schemes.

On public transport, 429m will be invested in 2004, 450m in 2005, 450m in 2006, 475m in 2007 and 500m in 2008 a total of 2.29bn.

Transport Minister Seamus Brennan said the five-year investment commitment will be a "huge boost" to the motorway building programme.

"It will have a major impact on addressing our infrastructure deficit and increasing our competitiveness by building motorways that open up vital economic corridors," said Mr Brennan.

He said the commitment will allow the department and the NRA to plan their projects better.

"I will be demanding from the NRA that there will be value for every cent invested. That means tight spending controls, maximum use of fixed-price contracts, not tolerating cost over-runs and bringing in road projects on time and on budget."

Mr Brennan said he would be asking the NRA to prioritise completion of three major motorways: from Dublin to Cork, to Galway and to Belfast.

He said Mr McCreevy's initiative to allow departments carry over a maximum of 10% of capital budgets to the following year would also help greatly.

Mr Brennan said that some 1bn had already been spent by CIÉ on laying down new tracks. He said the investment of 2.3bn over the next five years would be spent on carriages and engines.

FINE GAEL transport spokesman Denis Naughton said Mr McCreevy missed a golden opportunity to bring in a much needed overhaul of the whole project selection, project management and financial management process.

"Under the five-year funding system, you could, by not reforming the system, end up with higher costs than if funding was on a yearly basis," he said.

Conor Faughnan of the AA said the multi-annual budget was a very good move and it should help improve the poor quality of project management.

He said he was extremely disappointed at the cost increase of 5 cent on a litre of petrol and diesel, which came on top of a 5% increase in car tax, announced last month.