{"id":18148,"date":"2024-11-22T06:25:02","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T06:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18148"},"modified":"2024-11-22T06:25:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T06:25:02","slug":"ni-water-funding-model-fit-for-purpose-says-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18148","title":{"rendered":"NI Water funding model fit for purpose, says minister"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"BBCBBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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The current funding model for Northern Ireland Water is fit for purpose, according to the infrastructure minister.<\/p>\n

Housebuilding in Northern Ireland fell to a 60-year low last year, partially due to restrictions on new connections to an underfunded water system.<\/p>\n

Plans for an estimated 19,000 homes are being held up<\/a> due to the restrictions – affecting construction in 23 towns.<\/p>\n

In March, a report from the NI Audit Office (NIAO)<\/a> said there should be a comprehensive expert review of how NI Water was funded and governed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When asked by BBC’s The View if the current funding model, and the way in which NI Water is established is “fit for purpose”, John O’Dowd replied: “Yes.”<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fairness, the audit report does not suggest it is not fit for purpose\u2026 what it suggests is that we look at alternative models,\u201d O\u2019Dowd said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll alternative models that have been brought to my attention thus far involve domestic water charges, I am not introducing [them].\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"John<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

O’Dowd reiterated that he is unwilling to introduce domestic water charges<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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O’Dowd told the programme that he doesn’t “recognise” figures from industry bodies, who have described the housing backlog as a “fiasco”.<\/p>\n

The Construction Employers Federation has criticised the Department for Infrastructure and NI Water over thousands of homes which cannot be connected to the waste water system. <\/p>\n

It told a hearing of Stormont’s infrastructure committee that 8,500 homes are being held back, which it said is around \u00a31bn in investment. <\/p>\n

The Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUA) told the same committee that one architectural practice had \u00a3400m of projects held up in the system.<\/p>\n

The organisation said that the situation with waste water in Northern Ireland was a “fiasco”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“It all depends on how you add them [the housing figures] up, or what formula you use,” O’Dowd said.<\/p>\n

The minister highlighted the budgetary pressures of his department, which he explained faces “significant challenges”.<\/p>\n

He added: “4,500 homes could have been connected during this price period, and there is the potential for 18,500 to be connected if developer contributions are included”.<\/p>\n

O’Dowd would not be drawn on questions of specific new build developments which are yet to be connected to the waste water system, and said: “You’ve clearly done a lot of research which you could have shared with me beforehand, you chose not to.”<\/p>\n

“You need to look at the planning conditions that were on those developments before they commenced,” he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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NI Water has indicated that its waste water infrastructure is operating at full capacity. <\/a><\/p>\n

In August, it said construction had been stalled in 23 towns.<\/a><\/p>\n

The provider blamed underfunding, and a backlog in necessary upgrades and expansions is delaying new housing developments being connected to the existing network. <\/p>\n

Last week, representatives from the utility provider warned Stormont that capacity problems would get worse without additional long-term funding.<\/p>\n

The infrastructure committee was told NI Water is facing a significant gap in funding – both in the day-to-day running of operations and on the longer term capital side.<\/p>\n

NI Water director of finance Ronan Larkin said there was a \u00a323m funding gap between what they needed to run the service and what was available.<\/p>\n

On the long-term capital spending plan, he said there was a \u00a3266m gap in funding or a shortfall of about 45%.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, O’Dowd pointed to an additional \u00a331m in funding<\/a> which came from the Stormont monitoring round earlier this month.<\/p>\n

He told the programme that, for this financial year, there remains an estimated \u00a3100m deficit that he is unable to fill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to ensure NI Water is delivering an efficient, effective service,\u201d the minister added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BBC The current funding model for Northern Ireland Water is fit for purpose, according to the infrastructure minister. Housebuilding in Northern Ireland fell to a 60-year low last year, partially due to restrictions on new connections to an underfunded water system. Plans for an estimated 19,000 homes are being held up due to the restrictions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18148\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}