Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 101: To ask the Minister for Transport the number of public private partnerships his Department is currently involved in and for which infrastructural projects; the value of each of these PPPs; the breakdown of the public and private financial contribution to each partnership; if he is currently looking to undertake new PPP arrangements and the projects in relation to same; if Metro North is a key project in this regard; if he is seeking the backing of a Middle Eastern consortium for a new PPP; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5812/09]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme element of Transport 21. The implementation of individual national road projects, including Public Private Partnership (PPP) schemes, is a matter for the National Roads Authority (NRA) under the Roads Act 1993, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned.

In addition, the allocation of funding in relation to the construction or maintenance of such projects is a matter for the NRA under section 19 of the Act (as amended by the Roads Act 2007).

The NRA's current PPP programme comprises ten national road improvement schemes. Four of these have already been completed:

M50 Second Link Bridge;

M1 Dundalk Western Bypass;

M4 Kilkock-Enfield-Kinnegad Bypass;

M8 Rathcormac — Fermoy Bypass;

The six schemes under construction at present are as follows:

M3 Clonee — North of Kells

M6 Galway — Ballinasloe

N7 Limerick Southern Ring Road

M7/M8 Portlaoise — Cullahill/Castletown

N25 Waterford City Bypass

M50 Upgrade phase 2.

The details of the PPP contracts entered into by the NRA are commercially sensitive under the terms of those contracts. The NRA is currently developing proposals for a second phase of national roads projects to be procured as PPPs.

As regards public transport, it is intended to procure Metro North, Metro West, the DART Underground and the proposed Luas Lucan line mainly through PPP. I am not in a position to give any information in relation to the budget for these projects in advance of the completion of the public procurement processes for each of them. The publication of such commercially sensitive information prior to the completion of the competitive procurement processes would prejudice the State's capacity to derive maximum value for money in respect of these projects.

The procurement process for the Metro North PPP contract is already underway and the first round of tenders are due to be submitted to the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) at the end of this month. As I have pointed out on previous occasions, my priority for public transport is to deliver additional capacity across all modes as quickly as possible and major projects such as Metro North and the DART Underground will be hugely important in this regard.