Belfast is to receive a rapid-transit system as part of a £2 billion investment in the North's economy. There will also be major improvements to the water and sewerage systems as part of a package to strengthen the local infrastructure.
The announcement was made yesterday by the Northern Ireland Office Finance Minister, Mr Ian Pearson. About 100 projects will benefit from the Strategic Investment Programme which was negotiated last year by the power-sharing Stormont government with the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Gordon Brown.
There are also plans to provide new or refurbished buildings for about 50 primary, post-primary, integrated and special schools. A new acute hospital in the south-west will be announced next week by the Northern Ireland Office Health Minister, Mr Des Brown.
Two new fire stations will be built in Antrim and Carrickfergus and four existing stations will be refurbished. New fire engines and equipment will be provided to enable firefighters to deal with deliberate chemical and biological leaks.
There will also be several projects to upgrade waste water treatment, as well as water mains and sewerage services. A £1.5 million three-year study is to be undertaken to decide what form a rapid transport system for Belfast should take.
About 50,000 vehicles a day travel into the city centre and the British government is anxious to reduce that number. The disused railway line in east Belfast from Co Down could form the basis for the transit system.
However, the Department of Regional Development yesterday insisted it was too early to say a light rail system such as the DART in Dublin would be introduced. The scheme could involve buses or even trams.
The study will consider the economic and technical viability of the various options. Rail and bus company Translink has already carried out its own study into a rapid transit system. It estimated it would be used by about 11,000 people a day, considerably reducing the number of private cars on the road.
The system Translink envisaged was neither bus nor rail but a scheme which it said offered the best of both by combining the "freedom from congestion" of rail with the flexibility of the bus.
Mr Pearson said the main aims of the programme were to deliver "modern, first-rate and accessible public services" and value for money.
A strategic investment board will be formed with Mr Andy Carty, a member of the management team of Partnerships UK, as the interim chief executive. He will pull together a small team of experts to access funding of priority projects.
Mr Pearson warned that rate-payers in the North would in future have to play their part in securing extra funding for public services in the North. "The reality is that the Treasury is not going to provide an even greater share of national taxation to Northern Ireland. If, in the years ahead, the devolved ministers are to meet the pressures for higher standards of services, more will need to be raised from local revenue."
Sinn Féin welcomed the programme, especially the funds for new school buildings.
SDLP Assembly member Mr Seán Farren said it was "very good news for the people of Northern Ireland" whose infrastructure had been neglected for too long.
The extra funds for education were also welcomed by the Ulster Unionist Party.