I thank the committee for the opportunity to appear before it today. I am joined by departmental officials, Mr Ronnie Downes, assistant secretary, and Mr. Kevin Meaney, national investment office, both of whom are available in the event that committee members wish to ask them any questions.
Last month, along with the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and Transport, I launched the revised national development plan, NDP, the largest and greenest investment plan ever delivered in Ireland, with a particular focus on supporting the largest public housing programme in the history of the State. The NDP sets out a clear long-term strategy of planned investments of €165 billion for the coming decade to 2030. It is an ambitious plan, one which will provide the infrastructure needed to accommodate a growing population and the digital transition of our economy, and tackle the climate challenges that we face, as well as our housing requirements.
I welcome the opportunity to discuss the NDP with members of this committee. In my opening remarks, I will briefly emphasise the benefits and certainty that this NDP brings to our public investment priorities, while acknowledging uncertainties that inevitably exist in relation to such plans, and I will highlight measures being taken to improve value for money and governance, as well as the measures to support the construction industry and public sector to improve on delivery capabilities. It is important to note at this point that as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform my role, and that of my Department, was to agree the overall capital and departmental allocations set out in the plan. It is the role of individual Ministers to determine how expenditure within their departmental allocation is distributed to their priorities, programmes and projects.
Achieving the high quality stock of infrastructure that we aspire to will require elevated and sustained investment over an extended period of time. The €10 billion allocated by this Government to capital expenditure for 2021 is the highest annual level in our State's history and this level of investment will continue to rise under the NDP, with €165 billion included out to 2030. Our investment target of 5% of GNI* is well above the recent EU average of 3%. This investment is producing results. Some 20 major projects are expected to be finished this year, including the recently opened N4 upgrade to Sligo and the north runway project at Dublin Airport. In recent days, we saw the completion of the runway reconstruction at Cork Airport. Looking at the education sector, an average of 150 to 200 school building projects will be delivered every year over the period 2021 to 2025. However, while the NDP provides a level of certainty, it is at its core a high-level financial and budgetary framework. The NDP sets out the broad direction for investment priorities over the coming decade. It is not, and does not aspire to be, a comprehensive list of every project that will be delivered over that period. In addition, external factors, some of which are unknown, can impact on our plans in any number of ways, be it through cost or time constraints. Given that this is a decade-long plan, we need to be flexible as to when and how projects are delivered. Effective management of the public investment portfolio requires such flexibility. It would not be wise to provide a false sense of certainty on exactly how projects will fare as they proceed through all the necessary approval processes. Projects which are further along the project lifecycle have more accurate cost and timeline estimates, and longer term projects will continue to be monitored and updated throughout the project management process.
While we cannot be certain of what will happen, we can learn from mistakes of the past, where inadequate scrutiny of projects led to failings and poor value for money. I have brought a particular focus to improving governance over our investments. First announced in the revised NDP, a new external assurance process, EAP, for major capital investment projects is commencing this month to provide independent project scrutiny at key decision stages. This EAP process is our pledge to restructure the oversight and implementation of capital projects to strengthen scrutiny of major public investment proposals. This additional scrutiny will highlight issues which can be resolved as they arise, which will drive improved project performance while balancing value for money in the public finances.
To support the external assurance process, a new major projects advisory group has been established to further strengthen project management of public projects. External experts on the group are being appointed to complement the public service leadership currently in place. This brings Ireland in line with our international counterparts. Tracking ongoing projects more closely is also key and we will aim to update the capital tracker in a more timely fashion going forward. I will also shortly add up to five external members to the Project Ireland 2040 delivery board to bring additional expert knowledge, independent perspectives and an enhanced challenge function to the deliberations of the board.
As well as improved governance, a renewed emphasis on construction innovation is key to delivering high quality outputs. To assist in the timely and effective delivery of projects, the Government will continue to work collaboratively with the industry through the construction sector group and offer support as set out in the building innovation report. Earlier this month, I announced that a consortium led by TU Dublin was the winner of a €2.5 million grant to deliver the build digital project. This will support the construction industry to deliver future public projects to a higher standard using digital efficiencies. The capability of the public service to deliver the large-scale capital programme was also reviewed for the updated NDP. The resulting report sets out actions to support excellence and improve co-ordination among various bodies and the quality and coherence of guidance provided. A range of further measures to improve delivery include the development of the Office of Government Procurement commercial skills academy to enhance procurement and introduce further legal and planning reforms. I am aware that recent price increases in construction materials are having an impact on the delivery of certain public works projects. I have been working with my officials over the last while considering the optimum means to bring greater certainty with respect to future tenders in light of these cost increases.
In regard to future tenders, interim amendments to the provisions in the public works contracts will be introduced next month, which will, within certain parameters, reduce the level of risk of extraordinary price inflation that contractors will have to bear. These will address the period between tender submission and award through limited indexation of the tender price, and reduce the fixed price period to 24 months and permit mutual cost recovery within the fixed price period for material price changes in excess of 15%.
Overall this NDP will deliver increased levels of public investment across the country to support our Project Ireland 2040 ambitions. A particular focus has been placed on improving governance and supporting those involved in the delivery of these investments in the construction and public sector. I look forward to discussing the plan further with members of the committee today.