Vol. 533 No. 6
311 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the name, remit, budget and responsibility, including its headquarters and staff, of any organisation or agency under the aegis of his Department involved in any type of development in the BMW region; the monitoring process involved by his Department in respect of such development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9801/01]
Two non-commercial semi-state bodies under the aegis of my Department, the National Roads Authority and the National Building Agency, are involved in development work in the BMW region.
The NRA was formally established as an independent statutory body under the Roads Act, 1993, with effect from 1 January 1994. Its primary function is to secure the provision of a safe and efficient network of national roads, and it has overall responsibility for the planning and supervision of construction and maintenance of these roads. The funding available to the authority for 2001 is £665.306 million. The NRA headquarters are located in St. Martin's House, Waterloo Road, Dublin 4, and 72 staff are employed by the authority. The NRA reports to my Department on a quarterly basis on financial and physical progress under the national development plan for all projects and funding instruments.
The NBA was incorporated in 1960 as a private company limited by shares. The primary objectives of the agency are to provide consultancy services to local authorities in the provision of social housing, and to undertake urban renewal projects on a commercial basis on its own or in joint venture arrangements with builders and developers. The agency is a self-financing organisation which funds its activities from its retained earnings; operating costs for the agency are estimated at £5 million in the current year. The NBA headquarters are located at Richmond Avenue South, Milltown, Dublin 6, and the number of staff on its payroll is 56. Projects, involving the NBA, are monitored by my Department through procedures in place for the housing sector under the national development plan.
