Engineers claim €3bn ready for projects

THE PRIVATE sector could invest about €3 billion a year in key transport, water, waste, and communications projects, the Government has been told.

In a submission to the Government’s review of capital spending, the Irish Academy of Engineering said the State still had a significant need for investment and better maintenance of key roads and railways, water conservation, broadband, energy and waste projects.

The academy said State spending on essential infrastructure – which is projected to drop from €4.5 billion this year to less than €3 billion in 2014 – could in future be matched by private-sector investment.

It has also said up to €300 million a year could be saved on the Government’s own contributions if planning and procurement measures were reformed.

Chief among the report’s recommendations is a new national infrastructure agency similar to one in place in Northern Ireland.

The report, The Cost-Effective Delivery of Essential Infrastructure, claims getting approval for construction projects in the Republic is overly complicated.

Energy projects, for example, require the approval of the relevant local authority, An Bord Pleanála, the Commission for Energy Regulation, the Health and Safety Authority and the Minister for the Environment. The number of separate “consents” can be as high as 11 for offshore energy projects, while even a road scheme can require seven consents.

The report claims a national infrastructure authority would simplify procedures and provide more co-ordinated decision-making.

Academy chairman Liam Connellan, a former chairman of the National Roads Authority, said the private sector would recoup its investments through a range of user-charges.

He said in addition to the proposed infrastructure authority the State needed to provide multi-annual budgets and infrastructure plans as happened on the National Roads Programme.

He said construction costs had been 22 per cent higher than EU averages in recent years, and while they had fallen to probably unsustainable levels, the ambition should be to keep them at the lower end of European costs.

He said non-construction matters account for 35 per cent of construction costs, and reducing this by one-fifth could save the Government between €200 million and €300 million a year.

A clear plan to eliminate the “infrastructure deficit” could attract equal public and private funding, a move which could be worth about €11 billion over the three years to 2014.

Academy executive directorTim Brick said there was still considerable interest internationally in investing in Ireland despite the economic situation. The certainty offered by the academy’s plan would help dispel doubts.