4 December 2001
PUBLIC TRANSPORT IS MAIN WINNER IN DRD BUDGET ALLOCATION
Regional Development Minister, Peter Robinson, MP, MLA, has welcomed the announcement of significant additional resources for his Department in yesterday’s Budget statement to the Assembly.
Public transport is the main winner in the DRD allocation with expenditure increasing by 37 percent, while spending on Roads has increased by one percent compared to 2001/2002. The water and sewerage programme received an increase of approximately 1.5 percent.
Mr Robinson said: "The budget increase for my Department, excluding Chancellor’s Initiative and the EU Peace II Programme, is almost 15 percent, the largest of any Department. The additional resources, if approved by the Assembly, will be very welcome in a Department where the historic under funding of capital investment in Northern Ireland’s infrastructure has been particularly evident.
"While the increase does not apply uniformly across all my Department’s programmes I am particularly pleased to see the additional allocations for public transport. Next year will be the first full year of operation for the Department’s very popular, and highly successful, free fares scheme for older people. The Department’s budget for public transport continues support for this worthy scheme."
This year, the Department has been able to provide Translink with significant additional funding in order to begin the work of bringing the existing rail network up to modern safety and quality standards.
The Minister said: "The increased allocation for transport in 2002/03 includes a further £48 million for this work, a substantial amount of which will be invested in new rolling stock. Additional support for railways operations will be provided while the improvement work is being carried out.
"The funding will also enable Translink to complete the replacement of the bus and rail ticketing systems with a modern system."
Turning to the roads programme, the Minister said that taking account of all sources of funding, including the Executive Programme Funds and the Chancellor’s Initiative, overall funding for roads sees an increase on this year’s level of about £2 million.
The Minister said: "Alongside this, the allocation for roads structural maintenance will rise by a similar amount – while considerably less than what is needed annually the increase keeps us moving in the right direction. In terms of the roads capital works programme, the Department will now be able to make a total investment of almost £60 million."
The capital budget for 2002/03 will provide funds for construction work on the A6 Toome bypass, the A2 Limavady bypass, the A5 Newtownstewart bypass and the A5 Strabane bypass as well as a number of other important road schemes. Work will also be advanced on the Comber bypass, the A4 and a number of schemes on the A1 together with a number of other schemes.
The Minister said that, in broad terms, this year’s level of investment in water and sewerage infrastructure will continue into 2002/03.
He said: "Investment in water and sewerage continues to be an important priority in light of the need to meet compliance standards in respect of EU Directives on drinking water and waste water. While the requirement for investment continues to outstrip provision, next year’s allocation will enable us to continue a similar level of progress in this important programme."
Next year’s budget will enable the Water Service to progress a significant number of water quality and waste water related capital works schemes including Moyola Water Treatment Works, Woodburn Conduit and Ballyclare and Cookstown Waste Water Treatment Works.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
- A table setting out the Department’s Budget allocations is attached.
- The Budget figures show two totals for the Department. The first, which represents the Department’s conventional on-going budgets (including Executive Programme Fund allocations), shows an increase of 14.8 on 2001/02. The second total, which includes ‘one-off’ funding such as the Chancellor’s Initiative and PEACE, shows the overall resources available to DRD, an increase of 8.2%. The Department’s total budget for 2002/03 is therefore £553.2 million.
- Roads expenditure is fragmented in the DFP table but summarised in the bottom sub table (attached). This shows an increase of about 1% on the 2001/02 total.
- The water and sewerage programme receives an increase of about 1.5%.
- Public Transport is the main ‘winner’ in the DRD allocation with an increase of some 37%.
Table 1
Department for Regional Development
£million
2001/02
2002/03
% Change
Objective and Spending Area
Resource
Capital
Total
Resource
Capital
Total
Objective A
Roads
124.4
16.8
141.2
131.5
38.7
170.2
20.5
Transport
50.1
49.8
99.8
58.5
78.4
136.9
37.1
Air & Sea Ports
1.3
0.1
1.4
1.3
0.1
1.4
-2.2
Services to Other Departments
1.7
0.1
1.7
1.7
0.1
1.8
0.5
EU Structural Funds (mainly for Roads and Transport)
2.2
4.9
7.1
1.5
5.7
7.3
2.7
Total Objective A
179.7
71.6
251.3
194.5
122.9
317.5
26.4
Objective B
Water & Sewerage
107.0
110.5
217.5
108.1
112.7
220.8
1.5
Total Objective B
107.0
110.5
217.5
108.1
112.7
220.8
1.5
Total Departmental DEL
286.7
182.0
468.7
302.7
235.6
538.3
14.8
Chancellor's Initiative
0.0
40.9
40.9
0.0
13.1
13.1
EU Peace Programme
1.7
0.0
1.7
1.8
0.0
1.8
Total Other DEL
1.7
40.9
42.6
1.8
13.1
14.9
-65.0
Total DEL - DRD
288.4
222.9
511.3
304.5
248.7
553.2
8.2
Included in the above Departmental DEL
Departmental Running Costs
139.1
144.0
3.5
Executive Programme Funds
3.0
13.0
Roads Expenditure
141.2
170.2
20.5
Roads Expenditure - ERDF
4.9
5.7
17.2
Roads Expenditure - Chancellor's Initiative
40.9
13.1
-68.0
Total Roads
187.0
189.0
1.1
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