Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senator for his words of congratulation. They are appreciated.

The Waterford towns and villages scheme is approved for funding under my Department's Water Services Investment Programme 2007-2009 at an estimated cost of more than €48 million.

The scheme entails the construction of new or upgraded wastewater treatment and collection systems in Ardmore, Ballyduff-Kilmeaden, Cappoquin, Dunmore East, Kilmacthomas, Stradbally and Tallow. Waterford County Council is advancing the scheme on the basis of separate contracts for the collection systems and the wastewater treatment plants, with the latter being grouped under a single contract.

The council is making good progress. Work on upgrading the wastewater collection system in Tallow has been completed. Work on the Kilmacthomas collection system started in March 2008. The council envisages seeking tenders for the remaining five collection systems on a phased basis up to early 2009. By this timetable, work on all the collection systems should have started by summer 2009. This projection reflects the latest timetable Waterford County Council has received for issue of foreshore licences which are currently the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

In October 2006, the Department of Finance issued a circular requiring all public works projects to use new forms of construction contracts from February 2007 onwards. The new forms of contract were introduced to achieve greater cost certainty, better value for money and more timely and efficient delivery of publicly funded projects. However, in the case of projects for which detailed drafting of contract documents had already begun, contracting authorities were given a choice. They could either switch over to the new forms of contract or continue on to complete the existing contract documents. I understand that Waterford County Council elected to stay with the contract documents on which they were working for the five remaining collection systems, including Cappoquin.

This interim arrangement, which applied only to cases where detailed drafting of contract documents was already under way by October 2006, was brought to a conclusion by the Department of Finance on 13 February 2008, after a 15 month lead-in period. There is no uncertainty or ambiguity about the position. All public works contracts on or after that date must now be awarded using the new forms of contract.

While Waterford County Council must therefore redraft the contract documents for Cappoquin and the other four collection systems, I understand the tendering process should not be inordinately delayed, therefore, work on all these projects should still have started by next summer. Even if finalising the revised contract documents takes a little time, this should be made up during the construction stage. Under the new forms of contract, the contractor will have all design information in his possession and can then proceed to complete the project within an optimum timeframe.

Waterford County Council is also finalising the contract documents for the wastewater treatment plants at the seven locations and will submit them to my Department for approval as soon as possible. These are being procured under the design-build-operate contract model and are not affected by the changes in contract procedures for the collection systems. The council expects to be in a position to seek tenders for the treatment plants by the end of this year. I understand the council's intention is to structure the execution of the treatment plant contract in such a way as to ensure that the construction of each individual plant dovetails with the completion of the relevant collection system.

I can assure the Senator that the Minister is well aware of the need to improve the wastewater infrastructure services in the seven towns and villages and that the Department will continue to co-operate in every way possible with Waterford County Council to advance this major scheme to construction with the minimum of delay.