Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 967: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on whether design, build and operate schemes take longer to process through planning and are more expensive to operate than schemes built using traditional forms of contract and operated directly by local authority staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14636/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The design-build-operate model, which is the preferred procurement route for water and waste water treatment infrastructure funded under my Department's water services investment programme, offers worthwhile advantages over traditional procurement, including accelerated infrastructure delivery as payments to the contractor under the service phase do not commence until construction is completed; reduced exposure to construction inflation; optimised whole life project cost through single point responsibility for design, construction, operation and maintenance; greater certainty of final capital cost from better allocation of risk; and use of newer technologies with associated technical and economic advantages.

With the experience gained over a number of years now, there should be no additional delay in progressing such projects through the planning stages as compared with the traditional procurement approach. My Department is satisfied that the 20 years whole life cost of design-build-operate projects compares favourably with traditionally procured infrastructure operating to corresponding standards and that the operation of design-build-operate projects by professional service providers under contract to the local authorities represents the optimum response to the need for long-term protection of capital assets, together with consistent compliance with statutory and other performance requirements.

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 968: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his proposals to establish water services regional design offices, similar to those operated by the National Roads Authority, to facilitate the reduction in the timescale to deliver essential water services infrastructure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14637/06]

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 969: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his proposals to assist with tracking the approval procedures in his Department in regard to water services infrastructure and with delegating more responsibility to local authorities in relation to these projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14638/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 968 and 969 together.

I consider it essential that the most efficient procedures are in place to ensure that water services infrastructure provision can continue to anticipate and respond effectively to demand for new or improved services. Against that background, I recently introduced new procedures to accelerate individual water and sewerage schemes through the procurement process. These procedures, drawn up in consultation with the local authorities, provide that an individual scheme with a value of up to €5 million may, following preliminary approval by my Department, proceed to construction without further reference to the Department. This reduces, from four to two, the number of stages that are subject to departmental approval prior to the commencement of construction. Subject to the submission of certain limited additional information, the new procedures also apply to schemes where preliminary approval has already been received from the Department.

Local authorities are responsible for the procurement and delivery of water services infrastructure in their areas. When introducing the new procedures I recognised that there may be a need, in certain circumstances, for additional staff resources at local level to ensure that experienced staff solely dedicated to water services projects are available. Accordingly, local authorities have been advised that funding under the WSIP may be available to support project office staff structures within local authorities. Where appropriate, adjoining local authorities should co-operate in establishing regionalised project office structures to optimise the efficient use of resources.

In May 2004 a new project control system, which had been developed by the water services national training group, was introduced for local authorities as a direct response to the emerging management demands on them. The system was developed to assist local authorities to manage the planning, procurement and construction stages of projects on the basis of a consistent best practice approach