Vol. 510 No. 1
76 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Public Enterprise when the tunnel as part of the revised Luas construction programme will be designed and constructed; the cost of this element of the scheme; and if she will confirm reports that no public money is being provided for this in the national development plan. [20812/99]
Geotechnical studies for the underground section of the Dublin light rail network are scheduled for completion by end year. It will only then be possible to provide a firm cost estimate and an indicative timetable for the completion of the project.
The Government has already decided that elements of the light rail network should be a pilot public private partnership project. Earlier this year I published the consultancy study which I commissioned from Arthur Andersen-Steer Davies Gleave. This recommended that the St. Stephen's Green to Dublin Airport should be implemented on a PPP basis. It is proposed to include a substantial contingency provision in the national development plan for the underground section of the light rail network and the longer term rail development programme. However, the precise amount of public and private funding for the underground section will be determined as part of the PPP process.
