Vol. 477 No. 5
163 Mr. B. Smith asked the Minister for the Environment the proposals, if any, he has to upgrade public water schemes and private group water schemes in the period from 1997 to 2000; if so, the estimated cost of the upgrading of such schemes; the sources of funding for such development work, EU or national; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9706/97]
The National Development Plan (NDP) 1994-99 envisages expenditure of more than £600 million, in 1994 terms on water and sewerage schemes over the period of the Plan. Just under £500 million of this is to be co-financed from the Cohesion Fund; over £70 million is to be co-financed under the European Regional Development Fund funded Operational Programme for Environmental Services 1994-99 and from INTERREG 2; and the balance is to be funded wholly by the Exchequer.
The 1997 Water and Sewerage Services Work Programme, announced in February and which is available in the Oireachtas Library, includes over 70 major public water schemes at various stages of planning and construction, with a total estimated cost of £340 million. These schemes will form the core of the capital investment programme on major public water schemes up to the year 2000. The inclusion of further schemes in the work programme will be considered in the context of the preparation of the work programmes for 1998 and subsequent years.
