Isle of Man Liverpool ferry terminal funding decision deferred

The decision to invest an additional £13m to complete the upgrade of the Isle of Man's dedicated ferry terminal at Liverpool Docks has been deferred until a new session of parliament, the Tynwald, in October.

A funding proposal had been due to be presented by Infrastructure Minister, Tim Baker, at Tynwald's July sitting, but was withdrawn following protests that insufficient time had been allocated for parliamentarians to scrutinise the proposal.

Work on the new terminal at the Princes Half Tide Dock, not far from the existing terminal at Pier Head, began in late 2019, but has been bedeviled by a series of cost increases to its original £38m budget.

In April, Mr Baker reported that spending had run £5m over budget and was likely to "increase significantly" with a year’s delay until the terminal would enter operations.

Once complete, the ferry terminal will be able to accommodate up to 1,000 passengers and 200 vehicles, and will be leased to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.

Mr Baker previously said the need for more money was due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as additional work on the quay wall and unexpected issues with the site.

These included unexploded WWII ordnance and the discovery of “hundreds of voids, culverts and shafts” that needed "urgent remediation”.

Earlier this year, external consultants appointed by the Minister recommended a radical overhaul of the Department of Infrastructure stating that its present structure was not fit to manage the large body of tasks it is responsible for.