Written Answers. - National Development Plan.
Bernard J. Durkan
Ceist:
78
Mr. Durkan
asked the
Minister for Public Enterprise
the extent to which targets including costs set by her Department in the context of the national development plan have been achieved or are achievable; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[10852/02]
The following is the position in relation to allocations and the achievement of targeted expenditure under the national development plan in the transport, energy and communications areas.
During the seven years of the national development plan, it is proposed to invest €2.8 billion in public transport. The greater Dublin area will benefit from a €2.03 billion investment and €825 million has been allocated under the NDP proposals to address regional transport requirements. Significant progress has already been made in achieving these targets. More than €570 million in Exchequer funding has already been spent on projects since the commencement of the plan and a further €424 million has been allocated to public transport projects in 2002. This investment has already resulted in additional capacity on both bus and rail network and greater frequency of bus and rail services.
The implementation of the railway safety programme is progressing with more than 246 miles of track and more than 150 miles of fencing completed, 228 bridges renewed and safety improvements on more than 401 level crossings. Work has commenced on the development of Heuston Station which will see an expansion of the station facilities and its capacity to accommodate increased frequency of mainline and suburban trains with five extra platforms, signalling and improved passenger facilities. This investment will also form part of the Kildare line upgrade where the intention is to have a four track line to allow both suburban and mainline trains run independently of each other.
The upgrade of the DART line is also under way and will result in greater frequency of trains and again increased capacity in and out of Connolly Station. This development will also benefit the users of the Maynooth rail line. On the suburban rail network, DART capacity will have increased by about 50% when the further 12 DART carriages that are currently being commissioned enter into service shortly after Easter.
Progress on the construction of Luas is continuing and is on schedule for completion before the end of 2003. The depot at the Red Cow is now complete, enabling work is well advanced and track laying and overhead cabling work commenced in the past few weeks. Seven of the 40 trams have been delivered to date with the remainder arriving at the rate of two a month. The preferred bidder for the operation of the system and contract terms are being finalised.
The Railway Procurement Agency is continuing with the preparatory work for the commencement of the procurement process for the Dublin metro. The Government has approved a phased approach to the development of the metro and a notice seeking expressions of interest will be placed in the EU Official Journal shortly. My Department, in conjunction with CIE, is monitoring the progress of projects being funded under the national development plan and taking the necessary steps, where possible, to ensure that projects are completed within budget and in the agreed timeframe.
Under the airports measure of the national development plan, a sum of €13.97 million in 1999 prices was allocated to assist with necessary infrastructural upgrades and improvements at the six regional airports. This amount was apportioned as €10.16 million in respect of the four airports in the Border, midland and western region and €3.81 million in respect of the two airports in the south and east region. A further sum of €3.81 million was subsequently allocated to the south and east region, bringing the total allocation for that region to €7.62 million and the overall total under the Measure to €17.78 million. Expenditure to date under the airports measure amounts to less than €1 million mainly on fire rescue equipment and navigational aids.
It is necessary for my Department to undertake a very thorough assessment of the requests for funding from all the regional airports, as the overall amount sought exceeds the total amount available under the national development plan. My Department is currently finalising this assessment and I expect to be in a position to make decisions in this regard in the coming weeks. I am confident the projects which are selected for support under the airports measure can be completed within the overall time frame of the plan.
Under the sustainable energy priority within the framework of the national development plan €222.5 million is earmarked for investment. My Department has overall responsibility for the administration of this funding and the Irish Energy Centre, which operates under the aegis of my Department, is the main conduit for implementing this priority. Recently enacted legislation, the Sustainable Energy Act, 2002, provides for the centre to be established as an independent statutory body with the new title of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.
In the energy sector, a key priority in the national development plan is to identify those areas of expenditure which will assist Ireland in complying with its obligation under the Kyoto protocol, which is to limit the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 13% above 1990 levels. The strategy is to pursue least cost approaches to achieving more sustainable energy services and systems. The focus of the strategy being pursued is on energy efficiency, conservation and the promotion of electricity generation from renewable sources. The Department's policy is fully elaborated in the Green Paper on sustainable energy, which was published by the Minister of State in September 1999.
The primary implementing body for energy efficiency is the Irish Energy Centre and much of the emphasis over the early part of the NDP has been on building capacity in the centre to enable it to deliver the ambitious plans foreseen in the NDP. Sanction has been received for an approximate doubling of the current level of staffing. A number of new and exciting programmes were launched by the Minister of State in 2002 following work carried out by the centre including a €21.1 million research scheme in advanced domestic energy efficiency developments entitled the House of Tomorrow programme and the announcement in August 2001 of details of the second phase of a major €12.7 million work programme to improve energy efficiency in non-commercial public sector buildings. More announcements will follow in 2002. They are designed to ensure that the energy sector continues to play its part in assisting the national effort to meet our targets under the protocol.
In relation to renewable energy I have set a revised target to support the construction of an additional 500 megawatts of renewable energy based electricity generating capacity to be installed by 2005. The bulk of this target will come from wind energy. As part of the process to ensure the target is delivered by 2005, I launched the fifth competition in the alternative energy requirement series in May 2001. This scheme was intended to support the construction of 255 megawatts of renewable energy based electricity generating plant. However, as the competition was oversubscribed, I decided to make conditional offers of contracts for 363 megawatts. This will ensure that the original target of 255 megawatts is met. The balance of the overall 500 megawatts target will be offered to the market as soon as is practicable in order to ensure the overall target is achieved by 2005. Work on the NDP initiative to improve the capacity of the electricity grid to accommodate renewable energy plant is progressing.
The Irish Energy Centre, which is co-funded by my Department, has recently put out to consultation the R D & D strategy for renewable energy. The focus of this proposed programme is to develop a multi-annual programme of funded energy research, development and demonstration in renewable energy technologies. I have secured funding of €16.25 million to support this programme which will be launched later this year.
In order that rural and regional areas may be in a position to attract and promote further investment in the information communication technology, ICT, sector, the Government has provided €200 million in the National Development Plan, 2000-2006, to promote and co-fund the roll out of advanced communications networks in rural and underdeveloped areas of the country. Nine contracts involving aid of up to €56 million were signed with five companies in early 2001, following a competitive tender process and these projects will result in a total investment of about €170 million in advanced ICT infrastructure in the regions.
A second call for proposals was issued in July of this year with the aim of further developing broadband communications infrastructure and services to enable the uptake of the information society in the BMW and south and east regions. Organisations were invited to submit tenders under three programmes: commercial broadband roll out projects, commercial DSL roll out projects to areas prioritised in conjunction with Forfás, IDA and Enterprise Ireland and public projects with economic development and social objectives for which public bodies were eligible to tender. Submissions were received under this second call for proposals by the deadline of 19 October 2002. These submissions were independently evaluated and the results of evaluation were finalised at the beginning of this year.
On foot of the evaluation a number of local and regional authorities have been asked to enter procurement to establish firm prices for their proposals. Once procurement is completed, and subject to satisfactory pricing, contracts will be offered for these projects. It is anticipated that this will take place over the next two months. These proposals involve the construction of metro area fibre optic networks in 19 towns around the country. Networks in other towns are under discussion with the relevant local authorities.
A number of private sector tenders received in response to the call for proposals are being clarified and may be offered contracts in the coming weeks. Arising from the Government strategy which I announced on 8 March last a second phase of 48 additional towns will be pursued through a public private partnership model. I am confident the projects which have been selected to date and which will be selected under the new call for proposals can be completed within the overall timeframe of the plan, achieving its objectives and intended level of expenditure.
