Transport package to be announced tomorrow

TransportTransport watchers will have to wait until tomorrow at least, to see the "significant capital transport package" which the Minister, Mr Cullen promised as part of yesterday's Budget.

Speaking on the launch of the estimates earlier this month, the Minister said he was "currently finalising a significant capital transport package as part of the Budget and that this, taken with the Estimates, will benefit jobs, the regions, commuters and business."

After the Budget yesterday a spokesman for Mr Cullen said the package would be announced at a press conference which was likely to be held tomorrow.

Asked if this would answer specific questions such as whether the Dublin Airport metro or the proposed rail link would go ahead, the spokesman replied that it would "bring us closer" to an answer.

In a statement the Minister welcomed the new 10-year transport "envelope" as a radical departure in forward budgeting which would provide "the resources and the framework to complete the transformation of our country's transport infrastructure."

The statement added the Minister would "shortly bring to Cabinet a detailed plan designed to deliver a state of the art transport system by 2014."

"Minister Cullen said he will elaborate on the Government's transport spending plans for 2005 later this week," the statement concluded.

The approach was immediately criticised by the Opposition Spokeswoman on Transport, Ms Olivia Mitchell who described it as "riddled with uncertainty".

Ms Mitchell said the point of multi-annual budgeting was to bring certainty to transport planning, "but in the case of the National Roads Authority which already had multi-annual funding, he changed the emphasis of the roads programme from the inter-urban routes to inter-regional routes in the first year; we already know what is planned in railway development thanks to the Strategic Rail Review and he appears to have abandoned the Dublin transport strategy "A platform for Change".

Ms Mitchell said: "changing the programme, changing the timetable and changing the Budget doesn't represent a lot of certainty".

In his Budget speech the Minister for Finance, Mr Cowen said: "Proposals for such a 10-year investment will be submitted shortly for consideration by Government. I believe that this is a necessary development in forward budgeting."