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For Oral Answer on : 25/01/2022
Question Number(s): 112 Question Reference(s): 3082/22
Department: Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Asked by: David Stanton T.D.
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QUESTION
To ask the Minister for Housing; Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 71 of 11 November 2021, the current status of the tender for the construction of the Midleton Water Rock Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund project; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
REPLY
The objective of the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) is to provide public infrastructure to relieve critical infrastructure blockages to enable the accelerated delivery of housing on key development sites in urban areas of high demand. LIHAF was designed to specifically address the issue of housing supply, a crucial factor in terms of house prices. 30 projects were approved with an overall budget of €195.7m, €146.8m Exchequer funded and the remainder funded by local authorities.
The Midleton Water-Rock LIHAF scheme infrastructure includes link roads, surface water drainage and other road/junction improvements and received original funding of €5.5m of which the Department will fund €4.13m. Cork County Council issued an invitation for the works on 3 August 2021 and the tender submission return date was 17 September 2021. The Council completed its tender evaluation process for construction of the Water-Rock works and made a submission to my Department on 26 November 2021 in respect of the Water Rock/Midleton LIHAF infrastructure programme.
I can confirm that my Department has now reviewed the Tender Stage Report for the infrastructure works at Water Rock/Midleton in line with the terms of the LIHAF Grant Agreement. Having completed the review, my Department is satisfied with the progress made by the Council in advancing this project and that the project will be delivered in line with the broader LIHAF grant agreement. My Department wrote to Cork County Council to confirm support and approval to proceed to accept the preferred tender on 13 December 2021.
Subject to the finalisation of the procurement process and any remaining issues by Cork County Council it is anticipated that the construction phase will commence in Q1 2022.