Gay Mitchell (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 146: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on the success of the PPP projects for which his Department has responsibility; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11056/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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More than 100 PPP projects, with an estimated total capital cost of €2.1 billion, have been completed or are at various stages of progress in the local government sector. Dublin Bay wastewater and Cork, Limerick and Wexford main drainage projects are among the major projects which have been completed. Projects under way include a large number of water and wastewater projects which are being provided with funding from my Department on the basis of design, build and operate contracts; five waste sector projects where private finance will fund the capital cost of the infrastructure; two housing sector projects at Fatima Mansions and O'Devaney Gardens, Dublin where the private sector is delivering social and affordable housing in return for development rights on the remainder of these sites; two further housing sector projects which are being advanced under the affordable housing initiative at Jamestown Road and Infirmary Road, Dublin and eight projects in the local services sector which have emerged from local authority PPP seed fund. More than 70 further potential PPP projects are being investigated.

A second measure of success for my Department's PPP programme is the amount of private finance which is coming forward which, depending on the results of tendering processes still under way, is estimated to fall within a range of €550 million to €700 million. This relates to projects in the housing, waste and local services sectors, including projects such as Dublin thermal treatment waste to energy and the Fatima Mansions and O'Devaney Gardens housing redevelopments. Both the progress illustrated above across a diverse range of projects, together with the significant level of private financing being harnessed, indicate that my Department's PPP programme is performing effectively.