TO THE MINISTER FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

(CONOR MURPHY)

Mrs Long asked the Minister for Regional Development to confirm that the announcement of the Belfast sewer project — project alpha and project omega — contained in the draft investment strategy 2008-18, are identical to the schemes already existing in the Investment Strategy launched by direct rule Ministers in December 2005.    (AQO 1063/08)

The Minister for Regional Development (Mr Murphy): A LeasCheann Comhairle. I have been advised by Northern Ireland Water that project alpha and project omega for the Belfast sewer project, referred to in the draft investment strategy 2008-2018, are the same as those announced by direct rule Ministers in the investment strategy in December 2005. That is due to the size and complexity of the projects, which span a number of years and represent a significant investment aimed at improving water and sewerage infrastructure.

The Belfast sewer project commenced in May 2005, and will not be completed until the end of 2009. It will upgrade Belfast’s Victorian sewer system at a cost of £130 million, and includes the construction of a large-diameter tunnel. Projects alpha and omega are public-private partnership projects, which commenced in June 2006 and May 2007 respectively. Although the bulk of the construction work will be completed by 2009, both projects have a 25-year concession. The projects aim to deliver a number of newer, upgraded water and waste-water treatment works at a total cost of £232 million.

Mrs Long: I thank the Minister for the clarification. No one would argue that the projects are either short-term or unnecessary. However, I commend the Depart­ment on its ability to recycle, because the announcements have already been made at other times in other places, and it appears that they have been dressed up again for the current round of budgeting.

Previously, the Minister has — rightly — identified that installing bigger pipes is not the only answer to the problem of flooding in urban areas. What progress is being made on the sustainable urban-drainage project to deal with new development and retrofitting in older properties?

Mr Murphy: In relation to the commentary in the first part of the Member’s question, the Executive’s announcement of the investment strategy in respect of the Belfast sewer project refers to its completion, which is an acknowledgement that the project has already started. We must continue to invest in it, and I presume that the Member would have had a more substantial case for disquiet had the Department not announced that it would spend the money to complete the project, as with others.

In relation to the second part of the Member’s question, the studies are ongoing to provide the most effective, and retrofitted, drainage system possible for newbuilds. Those studies will take some time to complete, and weather conditions this year have exacerbated flooding problems, particularly in the Member’s constituency of East Belfast.

The overall health warning is that no system can compete with the type of downfall that we had in June in Belfast, Omagh and other areas of the North. None­theless, the studies continue to endeavour to make the drainage system as effective as it can possibly be.

Mr Burns: Will the Minister ensure that the planned systems will be upgraded in accordance with the most recent EU directives?

Mr Murphy: We are always guided by EU directives, and where we are found to fall foul of them, infraction costs inevitably follow. The EU directives are uppermost in the thinking of all Departments when deciding how an issue is approached. I assure the Member that EU directives will continue to dictate how the Department for Regional Development conducts all such business.