Written Ministerial Statement

The content of this written ministerial statement is as received at the time from the Minister. It has not been subject to the official reporting (Hansard) process.

Department for Infrastructure - October Monitoring Allocation of £19.5m Capital Del to NI Water to Focus on Unlocking Capacity for Housing

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Published at 9am on Friday 13 December 2024

Mr O’Dowd (The Minister for Infrastructure):

Decision

I wish to inform Members of the outcome of my decision to allocate an additional £19.5m capital DEL during October Monitoring to NI Water, specifically to address constraints in wastewater infrastructure and to unlock capacity for housing connections. 

Background

Members will be aware that in 2024-25, I have provided NI Water with a total budget allocation of almost £0.5 billion, representing just under 40% of the total non-ring-fenced budget for my department. This reflects the central importance of water and sewerage services to our society.

As we continue to seek fairer funding and investment in our services after 14 years of underfunding and austerity by the British Government, I have been working with Executive colleagues to increase wastewater investment and to focus on unlocking further wastewater capacity to enable properties to connect to the sewerage network during this price control period until 2027.

Departmental Statement

NI Water has advised my department that following the investment of the additional £19.5m allocated to NI Water in October monitoring, the outcome of the investment is projected to deliver capacity for some 2300 new properties to connect to the water and sewerage infrastructure during this price control period. The work covers 5 different council areas across Antrim, Derry and Tyrone, meaning that people and businesses in these will benefit from my Department’s and NI Water’s commitment to improving essential public infrastructure.

It is important to note also that between 2021/2022 and 2024/25 NI Water estimates that it has connected almost 25,000 domestic properties. 

Concluding Comments

The delivery of this targeted investment is a positive example of the Executive working together to support the case for additional funding for public services, and then delivering on it.

I wish to put on record my thanks to the Minister for Finance Caoimhe Archibald and all my Executive colleagues for supporting this investment. This is an example of collaborative working which will be necessary to deliver on the aims of the Housing Supply Strategy.

Finally, I would like to thank NI Water for their work in the delivery of this essential infrastructure.  We will continue to work together to find innovative solutions in the months and years ahead.

The below table details the areas of investment that will deliver this capacity: