Not one of North Ireland’s highest priority infrastructure projects has been delivered within the original time or budget estimates, according to a report by the North’s comptroller and auditor general.
Kieran Donnelly, head of the Northern Ireland Audit Office, recommended that the potential benefits of alternative models of commissioning and delivering major infrastructure projects "are fully explored as a matter of priority".
The report on major capital projects considered seven infrastructure developments, with a combined five-year budget of more than £1 billion (€1.17 billion), which were identified by the North’s Executive in 2015 as its highest priority projects.
These were the A5 and A6 roads, the Belfast Mother and Children's Hospital, Belfast Transport Hub and Rapid Transit, the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service's Learning and Development Centre at Desertcreat, and regional and sub-regional stadia, which include the Kingspan Stadium, Windsor Park and Casement Park.
The reasons given by the relevant departments for time delays and/or cost overruns were funding constraints, legal challenges, planning issues, limited interest from the construction industry, and issues with the quality of construction.
In one case, the upgrade of the A5 from Derry to the Tyrone/Monaghan border at Aughnacloy – which the report said was "brought to the point of construction on schedule in August 2012" – is currently expected to be delivered 10 years later than originally planned because of legal challenges and uncertainty over future funding.
The report highlighted a planned critical care centre, which is now expected to be completed eight years later than originally estimated because of construction problems, and Ulster University’s Greater Belfast development, which the report said “needs to attract substantial additional external finance to bridge the current, major funding gap”.
‘Streamlining processes’
Mr Donnelly said that while major capital projects are complex and delivery problems were “not unique” to Northern Ireland, it was “disappointing that, while some projects are delivered on time and within budget, many suffer significant cost overruns and time delays.
“Even flagship projects identified as the Northern Ireland Executive’s highest priority, and with funding secured over a longer period, have not met their original delivery targets,” he said.
“Existing, cumbersome governance and delivery structures within the Northern Ireland public sector can be a barrier to achieving value for money.”
The report made a number of recommendations and judged that there was “significant merit in considering how alternative models, resourced with sufficient, highly skilled staff could improve future infrastructure delivery by supplementing public sector skills with those available in other sectors and streamlining processes”.
While it would “take time identify and select the most suitable model for the future,” the report advised that, “given that many of the projects we obtained detail on experienced similar problems, we recommend that, in the interim, contracting authorities collaborate and share best practice.”
