Written Answers. - Water and Sewerage Schemes.
Ivan Yates
Question:
281
Mr. Yates
asked the
Minister for the Environment and Local Government
the proposals he has to review the tender process for water and sanitary service schemes in order that the period from the initial approval to construction is at least halved.
[24923/00]
The arrangements under which water services projects are procured are reviewed regularly by my Department with the objective of minimising the need for direct departmental involvement and increasing the responsibilities of local authorities in the procurement process, so as to accelerate progress of projects generally.
Significant additional functions devolved to local authorities since 1999 include: in the case of projects costing between £0.5 million and £1 million, once the preliminary report for a project has been approved and the project is included in the water services investment programme as a scheme to go to construction, the project may proceed to construction without need for further departmental approval. Where a project has been included in the investment programme to be advanced through planning only, the project may proceed to completion of contract documents without need for further departmental approval. In the case of projects costing more than £1 million, once the Department has given approval to a stage of a project, for example, preparation of a preliminary report, contract documents or tender documents, further approval will not be necessary for matters such as the appointment of consult ants, the carrying out of investigation contracts or legal and other eligible non-contract expenditure, providing these elements have been clearly identified by the local authority in its submission seeking approval to proceed to the next phase.
Management of all small public water services projects costing less than £250,000 has traditionally been devolved to local authorities. This limit was raised to £500,000 earlier this year.
The increasing role of public-private partnerships, using private sector skills and management expertise will also provide a mechanism for accelerating capital projects. Considerable work has been undertaken to actively promote and develop the PPP model and significant progress has already been made in some forms of PPP in water services. Approximately 100 projects in the Water Services Investment Programme 2000-2002 have been identified as having PPP potential.
The process for reviewing procedures is continuing on an ongoing basis with a view to identifying further potential devolution measures that will ensure that the water services projects provided for under the national development plan are delivered in a timely and cost efficient manner.
