A member of the Treasury team has admitted there is ’considerable scope for improvement’ in the way they deliver capital schemes.

Bill Shimmins MHK, Treasury member with responsibility for capital projects, told the Manx Independent he was ’frustrated’ by the delays in the £25m Douglas promenade improvement programme.

And he cited other projects across the island saying: ’There are too many schemes which are running late and over budget.’

He said the Douglas promenade works was a ’significant piece of work’.

’I think that everybody is frustrated that it has taken longer (than planned) and the Department of Infrastructure are trying to look at how they deliver that, minimising disruption but also delivering it more quickly, he said. ’We are frustrated, I am certainly frustrated about this and that is why we are reviewing how we deliver the capital programme.’

He continued: ’Ultimately what we are doing is providing the funding and that’s an important part of the equation.’

Former bank manager Mr Shimmins said it was a great privilege to play a part in helping to deliver part of the budget.

’It’s very important for the island, the focus we are bringing is on delivering some positive changes not just for individuals but overall providing a sustainable financial future for the island.

’In terms of that financial plan it is clear we are on track and that is positive news.’

But he accepted that as well as the prom scheme the NSC scheme was running over as well as work elswhere in the island.

He said the new Liverpool ferry terminal is scheduled to open in 2021.

The Merseyside project’s estimated cost is £38.054m.

Some £16.25m has been approved in this year’s Budget on top of £6.5m last year and an expected £12.561m next year.

Mr Shimmins said: ’And you see a number of infrastructure schemes, roadworks, (where) there is definitely considerable scope for improvement in the delivery of our capital programme.

’We want to drive that improvement and we are looking at that in detail.’

Mr Shimmins, MHK for Middle, said one of the things they had to look at was whether it still made sense for government departments to be running their own large capital project because it was a specialised skills set, the project management of large schemes.

One option was centralising such schemes ’but I certainly would not want to pre-empt the outcome of how we look at that.

’But it is clear to me that we can get a lot better about we deliver some of these capital projects.’