Govt insists NDP will be delivered on budget and on time

The Government is insisting that the new National Development Plan unveiled yesterday can be delivered on budget and without any delays.

The last plan was dogged by cost overruns and major delays in the delivery of projects.

However, speaking after the launch of yesterday's €184bn blueprint for infrastructural development between now and 2013, Tánaiste Mary Harney insisted the same mistakes would not be repeated again.

She said there was a strong emphasis on value-for-money in the new NDP and changes had been introduced in recent years to fast-track major developments.

Despite the Government's optimism, the ESRI is reportedly warning that the plan will only serve to fuel inflation because the construction sector cannot cope with such a massive scale of development.

The ESRI had already warned last year that public spending should be restrained in the coming years to avoid over-heating the economy.

At the time, the opposition said the Government would ignore the advice and attempt to buy the next general election by boosting spending in many of the areas covered by yesterday's NDP.