WHAT WE WANT: John Dunne Chambers of Commerce of Ireland The stop/start nature of funding for key infrastructural elements of the National Development Plan (NDP), as evidenced by the recent Budget Estimates, is not only ineffective but is wasteful, works against the national interest and amounts to mismanagement of funding for the NDP.

The Chambers of Commerce of Ireland (CCI) believes that the importance of realising major infrastructure elements of the NDP - particularly in roads, transport, broadband, waste management and water - within the earliest possible timeframe, is an over-riding requirement of our continued national development and should be recognised as such by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, in the Budget.

On Budget day, CCI is calling for a proper, multi-annual financial framework to be put in place for the NDP to achieve this aim. Capital expenditure for key infrastructural projects must be safe-guarded and ring-fenced in the Budget.

The Minister should allocate the €500 million earmarked in the national roads programme that is necessary to begin the construction of the 23 major national roads projects that have gone through the statutory approval process and are awaiting funding to progress.

In the interim, the Minister must accept that additional spending on current infrastructure will be required in certain areas - such as road maintenance for example - to compensate for any delays in achieving original targets.

There is much talk at present about borrowing for capital expenditure as though that was self-evidently a good thing that needs no further justification or qualification.

While CCI can see the merits of borrowing in the Budget, we would take a more rigorous approach.

CCI favours investment in physical infrastructure directly related to economic development - as distinct from the much more elastic concept of "capital expenditure" - at a level equivalent to 5 per cent of GNP, until such time as the Republic has managed to close the infrastructure gap between ourselves and our main competitors.

Given that growth rates are projected to be below 5 per cent into the medium term, this implies that some level of borrowing could be justified in the Budget in economic terms.

Any such borrowing should, however, be subject to the over-riding constraint that the debt/GDP ratio should not under any circumstances be allowed to increase.

The Budget should also provide for a more general application of user charges for the services provided by infrastructure and to promote sustainability. Such charges must be levied on a universal basis, in accordance with the polluter pays principle.

And we believe that the proceeds from such levies should be ring-fenced by the Minister to pay for the construction and operation of the services in question rather than being used to compensate for under-funding in other areas, particularly at local authority level.

The publication and implementation of the National Spatial Strategy, which was approved at a recent Cabinet meeting, is fundamental to the future development of our national infrastructure.

The National Spatial Strategy, which forms a blueprint for the development of the Republic's infrastructure going forward in terms of prioritising projects, is absolutely vital to enable a proper strategic mid-term review of the NDP.

Much more needs to be done to measure and monitor the return on investment from NDP projects. A key element of the plan going forward is to ensure value for the money that is spent under the NDP.

A worrying aspect about the NDP's record to date is not just that so little has been achieved so far, but that so little has been achieved for the vast sums that have been spent. Twin failures of control - planning and financial - are at the heart of the challenge in the mid-term review of the NDP and must be remedied.