Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 150: To ask the Minister for Finance the PPP spend under the National Development Plan 2000 to 2006; and the percentage this represented under the roads, water, public transport and waste management programmes. [9389/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The National Development Plan/Community Support Framework (NDP/ CSF) 2000-2006 is an integrated investment plan and strategy for economic and social development for Ireland. The Plan is delivered through seven Operational Programmes (OPs), the Economic and Social Infrastructure OP, the Employment and Human Resources OP, the Productive Sector OP, the Southern and Eastern (S&E) Regional OP, Borders, Midland and Western (BMW) Regional OP, the PEACE OP and the Technical Assistance OP. Each of these OPs has a Monitoring Committee which meets twice yearly to monitor the ongoing implementation of the Programme. There is also an overarching NDP/CSF Monitoring Committee which is chaired by my Department and this Committee also meets at least twice a year. My Department does not maintain data on the status of individual projects under the NDP/CSF as this is a matter for individual Departments and Agencies who are responsible for project funding and, where appropriate, project implementation.

The most recent information on expenditure relates to the period January 2000 to end June 2006. This was reported to the NDP/CSF Monitoring Committee in December 2006.

Under the National Roads Priority of the Economic and Social Infrastructure OP, PPP funding reported from January 2000 to end-June 2006 was €462 million (7% of the total expenditure of €7 billion). This relates to the level of private investment in PPP projects and is the only such funding reported under the NDP/CSF. No PPP funding was reported to end-June 2006 under the Public Transport or Environmental Infrastructure Priorities of the Economic and Social Infrastructure OP or the Waste Management Measures of the Regional OPs.

It should be noted that Public-Private Partnerships are a means of procurement for projects of the right scale, risk and operational profile. Under the arrangements for monitoring expenditure on the NDP/CSF, data is collected on the sources of funding (including EU, national Exchequer, local authorities, and PPP/private) rather than on the means of procurement. However, PPP procurement has been used in the form of Design/Build/Operate (DBO) contracts for water services contracts and in the form of an operational contract for the LUAS project.