Tynwald is unlikely to be asked to approve funding for any major capital schemes before the general election, Treasury Minister Chris Thomas has said.
The minister said projects including a new secondary school, science blocks in Peel and a new primary school in Douglas would have to come before Tynwald for votes, but he is not expecting that to happen before the public goes to the polls.
“You can’t finance a new school from a contingency fund. Basically, Tynwald will have to approve the expenditure for any of the capital schemes,” Mr Thomas said.
“They have to come to Tynwald for those votes. It can’t just be from a contingency fund and I’m not expecting that to happen before the election.”
Improvements
Instead, government is focusing on getting projects “processed to work properly”, with work underway to establish accurate costings and proper management approaches.
“I’m not going to identify any particular process that didn’t work properly in the past. Different people have different ideas about bad examples, but essentially, we’re making sure we have an accurate idea of the costs,” he said.
The minister highlighted the scale of the challenge facing government, noting the expense of building educational facilities alongside other pressing infrastructure needs.
“It’s expensive to build a secondary school, it’s expensive to build science blocks in Peel, it’s expensive to build a new primary school in Douglas, and we’ve got so much more that we need to spend on housing, on harbours, on airports and so many other things,” Mr Thomas said.
Budget
The budget includes £35 million for Manx Utilities, covering electricity, wastewater and water infrastructure.
More than £2.6m will be spent over three years upgrading and modernising facilities at the NSC including the running track (£900k), all-weather pitch at the Bowl (£850k) and mechanical and electrical systems in the main building (£880k)
While maintaining community safety is being supported by a £4.1m investment over the next two years in vehicles for the Police and Fire and Rescue Service, plus £1.9m for the ambulance fleet.
A further £2.5m funding is being committed over five years to replace equipment essential to the safe and modern delivery of services provided by Police, Fire and Rescue, and Civil Defence.
Ronaldsway will also see investment aimed at improving comfort for passengers and protecting the resilience of facilities.
This will include £660k towards the modernisation and refurbishment of the main terminal building, £335k for maintenance and improvements in the tower, plus £200k to address airfield drainage. A
further £200k is available in development funding to progress plans to extend the passenger holding area.