Infrastructure overview

The key numbers on Northern Ireland’s capital funding as the Investment Strategy is reviewed.

Over £3.3 billion investment has been delivered since the start of the Investment Strategy, according to figures from the Strategic Investment Board.

The strategy’s final outturn for 2008-2009 and provisional outturn for 2009-2010 add up to £3,318,575 million. The target for 2008-2011 was £5,940 million, although the end result is likely to be lower due to reduced capital receipts.

Capital investment, under ISNI2, has accompanied devolution so far and presented the Executive with tangible achievements e.g. the Westlink upgrade,

upgraded Newry by-pass, Downe hospital and Ashfield Girls’ High School.

The renewal of Northern Ireland’s infrastructure after several decades of underinvestment is well under way. However, the approaching period of austerity will mean less funding for the revised version, to be published alongside the Budget. As with other parts of the public purse, hard choices must be made and priorities set.

Pillars will be broadly the same as before with the addition of justice, now devolved. The UK Government’s spending review

has cut capital funding but did give certainty on the amount of money available going forward. Lower construction costs, compared to 2008, are an advantage.

The dispute over the £18 billion St Andrews package indicates its importance to local ministers. No strategy is perfect, as the information provided to agendaNi shows, but infrastructure’s importance is clear, especially in a slowly recovering economy that needs to strengths to sell to investors.

Following the money

SIB’s Delivery Tracking System makes Northern Ireland the only region outside the USA with a comprehensive mapping system for infrastructure investment.

Based on the Obama Administration’s tracker (www.recovery.gov), it drills down to a higher level of detail. Projects, including those at pre-procurement stage, are sorted by pillar.

Assembly members receive monthly updates on projects in their constituencies, which improves the programme’s transparency. The website is developed by Irish web developers Cora Systems.