Gerard Murphy (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 78: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he intends to take to fast track the remaining NDP projects in his Department to ensure completion of the plan as soon as possible. [3712/05]

Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Question 81: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on the statement by the Institution of Engineers of Ireland that the public private partnerships process has not achieved its potential contribution to infrastructure development and is hampered by risks and delays associated with statutory procedures, archaeology and the high cost of bidding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4083/05]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 119: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the way in which he intends to ensure timely and cost effective implementation of the national development plan in his Department as recommended by the Institute of Engineers of Ireland by early planning, investigative and archaeological surveys and design of projects and by flexibility in bringing forward projects to replace projects which cannot be commenced on schedule. [3713/05]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 131: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the way in which he intends to ensure timely and cost effective implementation of the national development plan in his Department as recommended by the Institute of Engineers of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4024/05]

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 268: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he intends to take to fast track the remaining NDP projects in his Department to ensure completion of the plan as soon as possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4023/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 78, 81, 119, 131 and 268 together.

I am satisfied, having regard in particular to the mid-term review of the national development plan overseen by the Economic and Social Research Institute, in co-operation with a number of consultancy firms, that progress on the various NDP programmes and measures falling within the remit of my Department has been generally satisfactory. I am determined that we will continue to make progress on achieving our targets for the remainder of the programme and I am committed to maintaining a high level of activity around those measures which are the responsibility of my Department.

While I note the recommendation that the risks and delays associated with statutory services and archaeology should be eliminated from public private partnership contracts, I am not aware that these factors have delayed delivery of any of the public private partnership projects in the national development plan that come within the remit of my Department. There are 109 such projects in the areas of water services, housing and waste management.

I acknowledge, however, that the above factors have adversely affected timely progress on national development plan projects which are not within the remit of my Department. In that context, I reiterate that I am committed to streamlining planning procedures for infrastructure projects in general and the matter is the subject of ongoing consideration in my Department. As regards archaeology, my Department has also entered into codes of practice relating to archaeology with a number of development bodies and these are working well. Staff in my Department are available to discuss the potential archaeological impacts of proposed developments and early identification of archaeology at the initial design stage allows the mitigation of archaeological issues to be built into the development process. The National Monuments (Amendments) Act 2004 introduces new arrangements to simplify procedures under the National Monuments Acts as regards approved road developments. A more wide ranging National Monuments Bill is at drafting stage. In time, these legislative initiatives will assist in the improved handling of planning issues related to archaeology.

Good progress in NDP programmes and measures made under my Department's remit is evident. The water services investment programme for the years 2004 to 2006 contains 869 projects at various stages of construction and underlines my Department's continued commitment to water and waste water infrastructure provision. From the beginning of the national development plan to the end of June 2004, a total of 285 water services schemes were completed, with cumulative expenditure of €2.152 billion.

The needs of almost 60,000 households have been met under the range of social and affordable housing measures between 2000 and 2004 and provisional outturn figures to the end of 2004 shows investment under the housing aspect of the national development plan to be some 10% ahead of forecast. In 2005, it is planned to build up a programme of 5,500 starts under the main local authority housing measure and it is estimated that the needs of 13,000 households will be met under the various social and affordable housing measures over the course of the year.

The non-national road measure continues to be one of the best performing NDP measures, with expenditure in both the BMW and SE regions ahead of profile. Output under this measure is also ahead of target, with improvements to 19,400 km of non-national roads up to the end of June 2004.

The rural water supply measure was one of those where initial progress was slow. However, increased expenditure in 2002 to 2004 has meant an improvement in water quality for over 1 million persons throughout the country on 1,945 water supply schemes. Projected expenditure is anticipated to rise in 2005 and 2006 with a commensurate increase in output.

While progress had been slow under the waste infrastructure element of the national development plan up to the middle of 2004, there has been significant progress both on local authority recycling and recovery infrastructure and disposal infrastructure. Some €50 million has already been made available to date for over 90 projects and I intend to seek new proposals from local authorities shortly. Several ambitious PPP projects are underway and, while these may take some time to come to fruition, they will represent major progress towards the implementation of modern integrated waste management methods.

Over 500 urban and village renewal projects were under way in 2004 and, by the end of the year, over €58 million had been provided by my Department in grant assistance. While this measure was slow to get under way in the early years of the national development plan, much progress has been made in more recent years and I am confident that it will meet its budgetary and output targets.

The national development plan supports an extensive programme of conservation and preservation of the national monuments and historic properties in the care of the State. A total of 101 sites were selected under this measure and by mid-2004 work had been completed or was ongoing on 76 of these sites. In terms of habitats protection and conservation, the proposed visitor centre at Ballycroy National Park is well advanced and it is hoped that the construction of the centre can commence in the near future. The project to develop a visitor-study centre for Clara Bog is proceeding satisfactorily and draft plans have been prepared with a view to progressing the project through the planning process as soon as possible.

I am satisfied therefore that good progress is being made on the measures under the national development plan which come within the remit of my Department. I accept, however, that we must constantly renew our efforts to maximise the opportunities for economic and social progress under the plan.