The Northern Irish Infrastructure Minister, John O’Dowd, has announced £8.1m in funding to repair the worst roads in the country. The money will help to address the poor condition of the road network and deliver additional resurfacing schemes. The additional investment was made possible through a combination of executive funding and reallocation within O’Dowd’s department.
The minister said that the investment demonstrates the importance of utilising all available capital budget to deliver much-needed investment in infrastructure. Due to a decade of government cuts and budgetary constraints, the initial capital allocation was well short of the required amount necessary to maintain the road network to the required standard.
Over the past six years, almost 120,000 potholes have been reported to the Department for Infrastructure (DfI). Due to budgetary constraints, the DfI could only repair the highest priority defects, leaving many minor repairs unfixed.
Last week, O’Dowd announced £1m of additional funding to address pothole problems throughout the country. Today’s announcement represents a significant boost to the investment in Northern Irish roads, demonstrating the government’s commitment to delivering much-needed infrastructure investment across the country
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