Overall capital programme plan is already in place

You rightly reflect that Standard & Poor’s, who last week issued their latest update on Guernsey, recognised how the States capital investment programme, which amounts to some £580m., would support economic activity locally in the medium term. But your opinion column wrongly said there was no properly-costed plan for this programme.

This is incorrect and misleading.

In fact, this government delivered such a plan less than nine months after the election. In July, the Government Work Plan was supported by the States and included as a key part of it a funding and investment plan.

The F&IP sets out how the capital portfolio was developed, the schemes within it, which are ‘must do’, which are longer-term schemes to take forward in the next term, and plenty more.

The ‘must-do’ list sets out 11 projects expected to cost £80m. in total and they include some which are essential to the running of our islands, such as the Alderney Airport pavement rehabilitation project, and some which are long overdue, such as repairing the Fermain sea wall, which is again regrettably proceeding at a snail’s pace.

There is no doubt that in the past few years the delivering of capital projects has been poor.

We’ve not spent enough on our infrastructure and have a system which is, in my view, overly risk averse. This States is trying to do something about that by improving the planning for the capital programme overall as part of the over-arching Government Work Plan, but also by delegating financial authority to the Policy & Resources Committee for approving capital schemes so that lower-risk capital projects in particular can move forward more quickly. We hope to see a lot of movement in the coming weeks and months as a result.

The States’ investment in the rollout of fibre to improve our digital infrastructure has already begun. The hospital modernisation programme, the secondary and post-16 education programme, and the transformation of the States’ IT infrastructure will all reach important milestones this year.

The purchase of Kenilworth Vinery for affordable housing has been completed.

That is not to say that I don’t feel significant frustration at the pace of delivery, where we seem to be in a constant state of drafting or debating some strategy or other rather than delivering what’s already on the list.

Our government system creates significant obstacles to getting things done quickly, but we are working very hard with colleagues across committees to encourage prioritisation so that projects

can get under way as soon as possible.

Coming from the private sector,

I find it very frustrating that even simple projects take months or years to start rather than days or weeks.

Contrary to your opinion, putting in place an overall capital programme plan is one obstacle we have already overcome.

We have a plan, we’ve published it, we’ve brought it before the States Assembly and secured approval and funding for it. The media reported on it at the time but it seems did not then recognise its significance. I’m sure now, given the newspaper’s desire for such a plan, they will be pleased to recognise that its early adoption by the current Assembly, linked to the wider plan for government, was and is the right thing to do to try and get our capital programme back on track after years of delay and inaction.

Whether that happens isn’t just a P&R responsibility, ultimately it lies with the members of committees tasked with delivering those projects.

Deputy Mark Helyar