NI Water could in the future be permitted to receive money from developers to help fix wastewater capacity issues which are preventing building projects going ahead, it has emerged.
According to NI Water, a lack of capacity in our sewage network is stalling the construction of thousands of homes, public buildings and businesses in 23 towns across Northern Ireland.
Historic underinvestment in our water infrastructure has led to this problem, which is impacting on a range of areas.
In August, it was claimed that up to 50 foreign direct investment projects are being held back because of issues around sewage. Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd said his officials are looking at the possibility of allowing NI Water to accept money from developers to address problems to get their projects off the ground.
“My officials are currently examining the legislative and regulatory frameworks to assess the feasibility of developers providing financial contributions to NI Water to improve wastewater infrastructure capacity and facilitate development,” he said.
“Policy development on this issue is still in the early stages and further stakeholder engagement and consultation will be required to progress this matter.”
Mark H Durkan
Responding to the proposal, SDLP infrastructure spokesperson Mark H Durkan expressed scepticism and said there are questions to answer.
“Not only do we have no idea what this potential legislation would involve, nor what contributions would be expected from developers, but the [infrastructure] committee heard recently that officials had yet to establish whether this legislation was even needed,” he said.
“There are questions whether requiring developers to contribute in this way could actually make our housing crisis worse by scaring off developers from undertaking large-scale house-building projects in the North, and, where they do go ahead, it would drive up the cost of these homes for potential buyers, make building social housing unfeasible and push up rents.
“The minister, indeed the Executive as a whole, needs to deal with this issue now or it will continue to thwart the building of houses and the provision of homes for people.”
The Northern Ireland Audit Office published a report in March raising serious concerns about the impact of a lack of funding for NI Water in recent years.
It warned that problems with wastewater capacity and sewerage infrastructure could “profoundly affect” the Executive’s ability to deliver its objectives, not least the delivery of 100,000 much-needed new homes here over the next 15 years.
In 2021, a water infrastructure plan, called PC21, was agreed by NI Water, the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) and the Utility Regulator, aimed at investing £2.1bn from 2021 to 2027.
Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd
This would represent an 87% increase in investment levels compared to 2015 to 2021.
While DfI was able to deliver the planned level of funding required over the first two years of PC21, since then these commitments have not been met by a considerable distance.
In 2023/24, funding was around £93m lower than what was necessary, with the Audit Office report predicting another shortfall for this financial year.
At the time, Auditor General Dorinnia Carville said: “This report highlights the challenges that decision-makers have faced in securing the finance and investment needed to meet water infrastructure requirements in the coming decades.
“A very real consequence of this underinvestment is that there are many areas in Northern Ireland where new developments, including the construction of homes and other buildings, is restricted due to insufficient capacity to connect to sewage and wastewater services.”