Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 May 2010
150 Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Transport if he will report on Transport 21; the amount that has been spent to date on T21; the projects in T21 that have been fully completed the cost of each completed project; the T21 projects still outstanding; their targeted completion date and estimated cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21012/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn the first 4 years of Transport 21 Exchequer funding amounted to a total of almost €9 billion.
|
€ billion |
|
|
Expenditure in 2006 |
1.937 |
|
Expenditure in 2007 |
2.357 |
|
Expenditure in 2008 |
2.504 |
|
Expenditure in 2009 |
2.124 |
In addition to this, €2 billion of private investment in tolled national roads has been secured.
The Department's capital allocation for 2010 is €2,081 million. Very substantial progress has been made on Transport 21 to date:
The five major inter-urban motorways and the M50 upgrade will be completed this year. The total spend on national roads between 2006 and 2009 was €7.75 billion, including over €1.4 billion of PPP funding.
The Irish Rail fleet has been renewed, at a total cost to date of €517 million.
The Midleton rail line (total cost of €75 million) and the first phase of the Western Rail Corridor (total cost of €106.5 million) have opened and the first phase of the Navan rail line will open later this year.
The Kildare railway line has been upgraded at a cost of €400 million and a number of new Dublin suburban rail stations have opened.
The Luas Docklands extension, which cost €90 million, opened last December and extensions to Cherrywood and City West are well advanced.
Over 500 buses have been purchased for Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann, with investment totalling €133 million.
A full list of all completed projects and details of those in planning is available on the Transport 21 website www.transport21.ie.
It is the long-standing policy of my Department that to protect the interest of the taxpayer, the cost of individual projects will only be released when (i) all procurement processes related to the project have been completed and contracts awarded and (ii) when it is not otherwise contrary to the State's commercial interest to release the information.
The Transport 21 investment framework runs until 2015. It is now likely that not all of the projects originally identified in Transport 21 will be completed by 2015. However no projects have been cancelled and Transport 21 continues to provide the strategic framework for capital spending on transport infrastructure into the future.
Because of changed economic circumstances, transport investment priorities have been reviewed and these priorities are reflected in the Renewed Programme for Government. Future national roads priorities are:
the progression of the Atlantic Road Corridor, and
the improvement of key strategic routes. The public transport priority is increased long term capacity particularly through — the construction of Metro North
the construction of DART Underground and the implementation of the associated electrification, signalling and rolling stock investments
It is also a priority to continue planning on other projects to enable their earliest possible delivery when the economic situation improves.
