To ask the Minister for Transport if there has been difficulty in using public private partnerships to fund public transport infrastructure projects in view of the continuing slow down in the construction sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
- Enda Kenny. (Nominated by: Fergus O'Dowd).
For ORAL answer on Tuesday, 17th June, 2008.
Ref No: 23385/08 Lottery: 77
Reply
There are four public transport infrastructure projects in Transport 21 which will be delivered using Public Private Partnerships. These are Metro North, Metro West, the Lucan Luas and the Dart Interconnector.
Metro North is the most advanced of these projects. The remaining projects are at an earlier stage of development. The Metro North project is progressing well - the tender documents were issued to the four bidding consortia last month and the RPA held meetings with the bidders the week before last. The bidding consortia have mobilised significant resources both here and abroad to develop their bids with a view to submitting them towards the end of this year, and the RPA are confident, on the basis of their engagement with the biding consortia, of obtaining the benefits of a competitive procurement process.
In addition, the RPA are well advanced in the preparation of the Railway Order application to An Bord Pleanala. They expect to submit the application this year.
The RPA have advised me that, arising from the progress being made in the procurement of Metro North, that there are no indications that current construction sector conditions here are adversely impacting on using Public Private Partnerships to procure public transport projects.
