£17.7m Announced For Roads Infrastructure

£17.7m is to be spent on new buses, street lighting and roads maintenance in Northern Ireland.

Transport Minister Danny Kennedy announced the measures, which include the purchase of 42 new buses.

The Minister was speaking after the January Monitoring Round announcement.

He said £10m pounds will be spent on roads maintenance, £1m on street lighting, £3.7m on six single decker and 13 Goldliner buses and £3m on 23 inter urban buses.

Minister Kennedy said: "As a result of January Monitoring, my Department has been successful in receiving £6.7m for bus fleet replacement. This will finance the purchase of six single deck buses and 13 Goldliners and the purchase of a separate batch of 23 Inter Urban buses by the end of the financial year. The 23 buses will be used on inter urban routes that are not covered by Goldline services.

"This additional investment in the current year will allow for the replacement of older vehicles and help to improve the average fleet age, emissions and provide higher levels of comfort and accessibility of the Translink fleet. This also will provide much needed funds to support our bus replacement programme across the budget period. Local dealerships will be involved in the supply chain here."

He also welcomed the £11m investment in roads and street lighting.

"The additional roads funding will be spent on the resurfacing of local roads and footways to maintain and improve standards including resurfacing, reconstruction, patching and structural drainage," he said.

"This will be a welcome boost to the construction industry. Based on recent independent figures it is estimated that this additional funding will help to sustain in the region of 280 jobs. There will be at least eight main contractors needed and a wide range of local sub-contractors and suppliers for roads maintenance and street lighting projects.

"The condition of Northern Ireland’s roads is of vital importance to the economy and it is essential therefore that they are properly maintained. This additional funding will bring road maintenance expenditure in 2012/13 to over £100m."

(IT)