A capital programme of £129.7m this year, and totalling almost £479m over the next five years, will focus on investment in transport, education, mental health and telecommunications.

But with less than half of the current year’s capital budget having been spent, the assumption is that expenditure will be more like £60m to £72m a year.

Treasury member Bill Shimmins MHK said: ’The programme for the next year and beyond is one which demonstrates this government’s commitment to modernising the island’s infrastructure.

’It will leave a robust and lasting legacy for generations to come.’

Some £30m has been allocated for the new ferry terminal in Liverpool.

A planning application has been submitted and the new terminal is due to open late in 2020.

An extensive highway refurbishment programme is planned worth £5m and a further £14m over the next four years.

In addition to this, improvements worth £7.6m are planned to East Quay in Peel and West Quay in Ramsey and resurfacing the A5 linking Douglas with Isle of Man Airport and Castletown over the next five years, along with £4m on bridges.

These projects, combined with ongoing commitments, result in an investment of almost £48m on highway infrastructure until 2023.

This budget year sees £3.1m forecast to be spent of the overall £21m four-year investment in the Douglas promenades scheme.

Additionally, a £1.9m further investment will be made to bring the Promenade Walkway up to a standard that will match the adjacent areas, including storm protection.

And £1.7m has been earmarked for a problem waste facility.

The importance of supporting those with mental health problems is prominent with £1.5m to be spent on redeveloping the mental health facility at Grianagh Court and £1.7m on adapting a building on the Noble’s estate into a new Acute Adult Psychiatric In-Patient Facility.

The emergency services will get £2.6m this year to replace life-expired equipment with new ambulances, fire appliances and police vehicles.

Jurby will receive significant investment with a total of £1.75m earmarked for a project to create small industrial units alongside housing, community facilities and landscaping.

Investment will be made in the island’s telecommunications network, with £2m allocated in the year for improving fibre-optic connectivity. The proposals will have benefits for residents and businesses, as well as encouraging economic diversity.

Some £2.3m is allocated this year for work on a new Castle Rushen High School, with this funding for new playing fields.

There’s £3.5m for the long-awaited regional sewage treatment works for Peel, ensuring raw sewage is no longer pumped out to sea and £0.9m this year to tackle the silt problem in Peel marina.

Some of the items in the capital programme may come as a surprise.

Tynwald has approved £13m - including £7.3m over the next five years - for new buses as part of an on-going fleet replacement programme, that aims to provide a modern and efficient public transport network that minimises revenue costs and maximises fiscal and environmental efficiency.

And there’s more investment in the airport, totalling £5.6m comprising £2m on new x-ray machines, £2.1m on ground refurbishment and £1.5m on the runway landing system.

Mr Cannan said the investment would ensure that our airport is ’compliant’ and ensure it can cater for the increasing size of aircraft now preferred by airlines.

Heritage rail will benefit from an annual consolidated fund of £4.5m, totalling £24m over five years.

The national glens and footpaths will receive further investment, along with the heritage trail on the old Peel to Douglas railway line.

There’s also £497,000 allocated for improvements to the Wildlife Park.

Tynwald heard that a £8.4m scheme to redevelop the Clagh Vane estate in Ballasalla is due to finish this year. A total of 51 homes have been built on the estate which originally had 42. The Horseshoe was demolished in 2016.

Half of the homes will be handed over in May and the rest in the autumn.