Loan burden falls on NI taxpayers

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Loans worth £2bn taken by the government for improvements to Northern Ireland's infrastructure have been dubbed unnecessary by the Audit Office.

NI taxpayers will have to pay £1.4bn in interest over 35 years, equating to £80 a year for everyone during the peak 15 years of repayment, the watchdog said.

It said departments could have cut back on loans and used existing funds.

The Reinvestment and Reform Initiative was launched in 2002 to help the power-sharing government raise money.

The 10-year programme has borrowings of £200m a year.

Affordability

The Audit Office said in Thursday's report that access to borrowing was important for delivering the investment strategy.

But it said the amount that could be borrowed largely depended on the affordability of financing the loans and what ratepayers would accept.

"To minimise the cost to taxpayers it is important that the use of borrowing is carefully considered and monitored," the report said.

"Our review found that, despite a history of significant departmental capital under spending, the Department of Finance and Personnel has borrowed £411m up to the end of 2005-06.

"This suggests to us that, if more effective departmental investment plans and systems for managing and planning capital investment programmes had been in place, a significant proportion of this borrowing could have been avoided."