Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 247: To ask the Minister for Transport if in respect of proposed toll roads or bridges, consideration has been given to a design, build and hand over process which would give the State use of both the revenue accruing and the low maintenance of a new construction for the first 20 years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29790/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The national development plan envisages that a proportion of the national roads programme will be implemented by means of public private partnerships, PPPs, which involve private sector funding, remunerated in part by user tolls. The model selected for national road PPP projects to date is the design, build, operate and finance, DBFO, model. Through PPPs, private sector innovation is harnessed in the areas of scheme design, construction and long-term operation and maintenance and will ensure earlier delivery of vital national road infrastructure. Value for money is the key factor which determines whether a project is undertaken on a PPP basis. It is considered at present that this is best achieved on toll road projects through the integrated DBFO model where the private sector shares the toll revenue risk.