Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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Question 68: To ask the Minister for Transport the procedures in place to ensure value for money in respect of public private partnership road contracts; the information available to him in that regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15671/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The assessment and evaluation of individual national road projects, including value for money, is undertaken by the National Roads Authority, NRA, as an integral part of the planning of projects in accordance with Department of Finance guidelines on the appraisal and management of capital projects and working rules for cost benefit analysis. In addition, the development and implementation of toll-based PPP projects also take account of Department of Finance interim guidelines on the assessment, approval and procurement of PPP projects.

In assessing value for money of road PPP projects, the NRA prepares a financial comparator which represents the cost under traditional procurement. This is compared with the cost to the public sector under a PPP arrangement to assess which offers better value for money. This value for money comparison is undertaken at different stages of the PPP procurement process. At the final stage, the best and final offer submission which has been judged most economically advantageous is compared against the financial comparator to confirm that a toll-based PPP offers better value for money.

The detailed appraisal procedures followed by the NRA for all roads projects indicate that the national roads programme represents good value for money, given the significant economic and social benefits deriving from improving our national road network. In recent years a number of independent evaluations conducted by Fitzpatrick and Associates in 2002, Indecon in 2003 and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General in 2004 have acknowledged that the national roads programme is, in general, well managed.