McCrossan: DRD in the dark on A5/A6 detail

SDLP West Tyrone MLA and member of the Regional Development Committee Daniel McCrossan has described the evidence provided by DRD officials at Regional Development Committee meeting today as a “demonstration of the scant detail, lack of funding and little thought,” given to the A5 and A6 developments. Senior DRD officials who were responding to questions from Committee members were unable to answer important questions pertaining to the development of the two roads.

Mr McCrossan said: “The evidence heard by the Regional Development Committee today completely undermines the boasts of Sinn Fein and the DUP that the development of the A5 and A6 will be delivered. It was a demonstration of the scant detail, lack of funding and little thought that have been given to these so called flagship projects beyond this year.

“In the case of the A6 we know that this budget has only put up £21million of the estimated half a billion needed to complete the road and when I asked about how plans were progressing on A5 the DRD officials looked at me as if I had two heads. They were unable to provide any detail on how or when the Strabane to New Buildings development would progress and there was no mention of the Ballygawley–Omagh-Strabane stretch that forms the bulk of the job.

“The fact that their testimony did not contain any detail is not a reflection on the Department but evidence of the clear lack of planning and direction that has come from the DUP minister. We must come to the conclusion that the reason why senior officials are still in the dark is because the DUP and Sinn Fein have no real intention of delivering on their promises. A day after it was introduced, this Budget is already falling apart under the weight of the slightest scrutiny. It has been exposed as a catalogue of empty election promises.”