Allister attacks Murphy’s prioritising of A5 political project over roads maintenance and water & sewerage infrastructure
13 January 2011
TUV Leader Jim Allister has attacked Conor Murphy’s DRD Budget priority of keeping the hugely expensive but unnecessary A5 project alive while making cuts where money could be more usefully spent.
In a statement Mr Allister said:-
“It is sheer folly, shaped by his own political agenda, for Murphy to devote 70% of the roads construction budget to just 2 schemes, of which the A5 will take the lion’s share, and in consequence to shelve more deserving projects, like the York Street flyover, the A2 Greenisland and the Sydenham Bypass widening. The A5 has low vehicular usage, is not, in the main, in poor condition, yet, solely because he wants to build a north/south motorway, he prioritises it above far more deserving schemes.
“His admission, after the lamentable experience of the last few weeks, that in consequence of pouring resources into the A5 he will have less funding for roads maintenance, water and sewerage programmes and, in particular won’t meet the Utility Regulator’s recommended capital funding level, shows a Minister out of touch with reality. Putting A5 expenditure before fixing our water and sewerage infrastructure is grossly irresponsible. How he has the brass neck to do this after his woeful failures over the New Year is beyond me.
“The folly of the approach is compounded by the fact that he is relying on £274 coming from the Dublin Government when there will be a change of regime in Dublin and one of the most likely participants in the next government there, the Labour Party, has already indicated its opposition to making this payment. So the prospects of this £274 ever arriving is remote, and then Murphy will have to strip out further vital expenditure on water and roads maintenance to complete his A5 political project. This is utter madness.”
