NI Conservatives’ economy spokesman, Johnny Andrews, has urged Stormont ministers to “get their act together and help the construction industry in Northern Ireland”, he also called on UUP regional development minister, Danny Kennedy, “to resign, if he genuinely has no confidence in the Executive of which he is a member”.
“While some recent figures offer encouragement for construction companies here, they disguise the fact that much of the work is coming from outside Northern Ireland and the levels of activity in the province are much lower than we should expect”, Johnny observed. “The Executive has contributed to this situation by being slow, indecisive and evasive about its capital spending. There should be an existing ‘pipeline’ of infrastructure projects, which are ready to start, in order to put funds to immediate use once they become available, but, as usual, Stormont hasn’t been able to agree.”
“There is little information about how extra capital expenditure, provided by the Conservative led government, has been allocated. Indeed, £80 million, set aside to build much needed infrastructure, like roads, hospitals and schools, recently went unspent, because Stormont couldn’t get its act together. One Executive party, the UUP, whose regional development minister, Danny Kennedy, is in charge of spending on roads and railways, says the budget in Northern Ireland is effectively meaningless. If that is the case then Mr Kennedy should do the decent thing and resign from his post.”
“The NI Conservatives have been urging the Executive to create a pipeline of infrastructure projects, to boost the construction industry and make sure that the extra funds George Osborne has consistently provided for Northern Ireland are used. Unfortunately failing to inject another £80 million into an economy which badly needs the money is a drop in an ocean of waste, inefficiency and ineptitude from an Executive which is not fit for purpose.”