Written Answers. - National Development Plan.
Denis Naughten
Question:
586
Mr. Naughten
asked the
Minister for Public Enterprise
the major projects under his Department included in the national development plan; the initial cost of each of these projects; the current revised cost of each project; the action he intends to take to address this difficulty caused by inflation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[13858/02]
I propose to answer this question on the basis of the transport, energy and communications functions for which my predecessor had responsibility.
In respect of public transport the national development plan sets out a programme of investment in public transport to address the key infrastructure deficits in the greater Dublin area and nationally. The plan provided for the following investments in 1999 prices: Dublin suburban rail, €235 million; Luas, €546 million; Dublin Bus network development, €279 million; mainline rail, €635 million; regional, rural and provincial bus services, €173 million; integration, €63 million; accessibility, €13 million and rural transport, €4.4 million.
In addition, a rail contingency fund of €635 million was set aside for future development of the suburban rail network pending further evaluation of a range of options to address deficits in the greater Dublin area.
Subsequently, the DTO "Platform for Change", published in November 2001, identified the requirement for significantly enhanced projects over and above the NDP to address the deficits in the public transport infrastructure in the greater Dublin area. The "Platform for Change" sets out a programme of investment over the period 2000 to 2016 at an estimated cost of €21.9 billion. Key projects include: an enhanced bus network in Dublin; an increased number of rail cars; a major enhancement of the DART network to increase the capacity of the operation from six car to eight car trains; a major enhancement of the planned works on the Kildare route for suburban and mainline services; an enhanced Luas system for Dublin; and a metro from the Dublin area, being procured by the Railway Procurement Agency on a PPP basis.
Accordingly, additional funding is being made available for public transport projects to reflect this enhanced investment programme. In the current year, €410 million is being made available compared to €253 million in 2000. This is apart from EU funding and the funding available from own resources of CIE and the RPA. In addition, new methods of funding capital projects will be explored on the basis set out in the programme for Government.
My Department recently announced the allocation of over €9 million in funding under the national development plan for capital works at the country's six regional airports for the period 2000 to 2003. The primary focus of these allocations is to facilitate improvement works and upgrades in facilities to maintain continued safety and viable operation at the regional airports. This funding is the first round of funding to the regional airports under the NDP provision. A further round of financial allocations to the regional airports for the period 2004 to 2006 is intended to follow next year's mid-term review of the NDP.
The amount allocated to each of the six airports is as follows: Donegal, €980,100; Sligo, €709,000; Galway, €1,739,000; Knock, €2,100,000; Kerry, €1,739,000; Waterford, €1,895,000. In total, this amounts to €9,162,100. As the allocations have only just been announced, the question of a current revised cost for each project does not arise. I am confident that the projects which were selected for support under the airports measure will be delivered on time and within the overall projected costs of those projects.
With regard to renewable energy, a total of €30 million has been allocated to the grid upgrade infrastructural programme. This programme is designed to upgrade the electricity network at strategic locations to accommodate additional renewable energy projects, particularly wind energy projects. Inflation will not have any impact on the costings of the scheme as the funding provided to selected projects will not exceed the overall allocation.
With regard to telecommunications, under the provisions of the National Development Plan, 2000-2006, my predecessor signed nine contracts in 2001 for the provision of advanced information communication technology, ICT, infrastructure in the regions. The nine projects are listed below. The funding for these projects is fixed.
|
Project
|
Company
|
ProjectCost(€ million)
|
Funding(€ million)
|
|
Wireless Local Loop for Broadband Services
|
Esat Telecom
|
2.82
|
1.13
|
|
National Fibre Optic Network
|
ESBI
|
49.2
|
16.6
|
|
Accelerated xDSL
|
Esat Telecom
|
25.18
|
10.1
|
|
BMW Broadband Corridor
|
Chorus
|
17.8
|
5.9
|
|
SW Cork Digital Link
|
Esat Telecom
|
6.63
|
2.65
|
|
Broadband Infrastructure – Longford
|
Crossan Cable
|
0.73
|
0.29
|
|
SE Broadband Comms Corridor
|
Chorus
|
50.3
|
13.7
|
|
Kerry Broadband Comms Corridor
|
Chorus
|
4.62
|
1.85
|
|
Regional e-Commerce Hubs
|
Neveada tele.com
|
10.9
|
4.34
|
