The Irish Academy of Engineering has, today, published a report on major issues associated with the delivery of strategic infrastructure projects contained in the National Development Plan (NDP). These major projects are critical to ‘Project Ireland 2040’ which sets strategic objectives for future growth and development of the economy and society.
The Irish Academy of Engineering (IAE) is dedicated to advancing the wellbeing of the island of Ireland by marshalling the expertise and insights of eminent engineers to provide independent advice to policy makers on matters involving engineering and technology. It regularly publishes research and guidance on matters relating to engineering, technology, and the development of Ireland and is a member of the European Council of Academies of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering (Euro-CASE) which is an independent non-profit organisation of national academies of Engineering, Applied Sciences and Technologies from 23 European countries.
The delivery of the NDP presents many significant challenges to meet the project delivery schedules and cost projections in a time of supply chain and resource constraints.
While delays in planning and delivery lead to increased project costs, the greater impact is the societal cost of capacity deficits and the opportunity costs when anticipated benefits are delayed coming onstream
In this report the Irish Academy of Engineering (IAE) describes some of the significant challenges in delivering major infrastructure projects and makes recommendations on how they could be resolved or mitigated
Tim Corcoran Chair of the Academy Infrastructure committee said: “While Ireland is currently in a very strong place fiscally, it is important to approach infrastructure investment in a sustainable manner and to co-ordinate and prioritize those projects that will bring genuine lasting benefits to the larger portion of the population.”
The 5 key recommendations of the report are:
1 Provide a new focus on delivery of public infrastructure by implementing an independent high -level body or commission to provide advice directly to the Department of the Taoiseach on the delivery of major public infrastructure, in terms of optimizing and prioritizing within and across sectors and geographies.
2 All major projects should have annually reviewed cost and delivery plans with full cost estimates using standard cost templates for all project phases including estimating the impact of inflation on project cost to the end of the construction phase including a statement of the public benefit of the project.
3 ‘Strategic infrastructure Plans’ should be prepared for Transport, Energy, Wastewater, Housing, Flooding, etc. They should be prioritized ‘across’ Government Departments rather than ‘within’ individual departments. These plans would complement and support delivery of the National Development Plan.
4 Provide a committed pipeline of projects to encourage domestic and international organizations to gear up to deliver. It would also give confidence to people in Ireland to join the construction sector – at all levels
5 Adopt multi-annual funding to reassure the infrastructure delivery industry that there is a consistent volume of work available to price and deliver, and avoid stop/go phases in priority projects which continues to cause inefficiencies in spending, delays and acceleration in a sub-optimal way.
The full report can be obtained from www.iae.ie
Source: Written from press release.
