Douglas South MHK Paul Quine said the delay on the NSC project was a ’source of national embarrassment’, Kate Lord-Brennan MLC described it as a ’woeful tale’ and Garff MHK Martyn Perkin adopted Victor Meldrew’s ’I don’t believe it’ to sum of his views on the saga.
Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan said: ’Members are fluming - and who can blame them? We all share a sense of frustration and anger.’
He said capital projects were the government’s ’Achilles’ heel’.
’The Isle of Man government has not got a particularly good track record on delivering major projects on time and on budget,’ he told the court.
Problems with the manufacture and installation of the new flumes have caused a lengthy delay to the £3.8m project, which started in August 2017 and was meant to be completed April last year.
Education, Sport and Culture Minister Dr Alex Allinson told Tynwald the final cost is now expected to be £4.2m including the negotiated settlement with the contractors which had been deemed the best way forward.
He asked members to support a £227,085 increase in funding to allow for the work to be finished. This includes work to the flume staircase and zero-depth play area.
When the spiral staircase for the flume arrived it was found to have been damaged in transit and when installed the flume run-out clashed with the duct work.
The stair column’s tread sections didn’t fit properly, there were no landings and inner handrail and there was significant movement when standing at the top on the flume entry platform.
Tynwald overwhelmingly supported the extra £227,085 funding for the NSC, plus additional £332,626 capital funds in respect of excess expenditure incurred by departments and £642,202 for heritage rail.
The latter related to accelerated spending on MER track repairs rather than additional budget.
DoI Minister Tim Baker explained that the opportunity was taken from not opening the railways as usual in March to carry out works that were planned for the following financial year.
Julie Edge (Onchan) was the only member to vote against the extra funding.