Michael D'Arcy
Question:41 Mr. D'Arcy asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the projected cost of the metro; the projected completion date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18099/01]
Written Answers. - Metro Project.
In July 2000, the Government approved, in principle, the development of a metro for Dublin on a public private partnership basis. The decision was taken following proposals in the Dublin Transportation Office strategy document, A Platform for Change, in which a metro was identified as a significant component in providing an integrated public transport system to cater for likely demands to 2016.
Following the Government decision, I asked the Light Rail Project office to commence the necessary preparatory work for the metro. The following progress has taken place to date: a public consultation process was commenced and has met with enthusiastic response; a market consultation exercise has just been completed and the responses received from a significant number of interested parties are being assessed at present and the LRPO development of route alignments and traffic modelling has been progressing. I will be bringing specific proposals to the Government in the coming weeks in relation to the development of the metro with a view to initiating the procurement process for the first phase later in the year.
Responsibility for procuring the metro will be given to the railway procurement agency when established. The Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Bill, 2001, has been passed by Seanad Éireann and I hope to move the Second Stage in the Dáil later this month.
The latest projections from the DTO suggest that the cost of the metro, as proposed, would be £5.7 billion, with annual operating cost of £120 million per annum in 2001 prices. The DTO has recommended that most of the system should be completed by 2010 with the first phase connecting the city centre to Dublin Airport and Blanchardstown, at an indicative cost of around £2 billion. The RPA, when established, will provide a more detailed indicative timetable and cost projections for the development of the system.