Opinion

Information needed on stalled university campus

WHILE Ireland is familiar with half-finished "ghost" housing estates, Belfast may soon be lumbered with a "ghost" university campus.

Work on the planned £250 million project for Ulster University at Belfast's York Street has been halted for over a month and there is no indication when, or if, work is likely to re-commence.

The campus was intended to re-locate much of the teaching and research at Jordanstown to the city centre, in a move which would have had significant positive benefits for the economic regeneration of the area.

Now the workers have all left and the silence on the site is matched only by the university's reluctance to explain what has gone wrong.

Universities are notoriously secretive about their financial reserves and accounts and they even refuse to disclose the salaries of many senior staff.

Since they are largely funded by the taxpayer, it is difficult to justify such secrecy and it is now time for Ulster University to break with that tradition and put the details of the stalled campus in the public arena.

The people of Belfast and beyond need information on two issues: what is the problem, and how can it be solved?

The difficulty appears to be that the contractors are unable to bring the project to completion.

It is not clear whether this is due to technical issues with the site, the ability of the remaining joint-venture partner to complete the work on its own, or the possibility that the tender cannot be delivered for the agreed price.

All of these problems have arisen before on major capital ventures and, assuming that the details of this contract have been based on sound legal and financial practice, all can be solved in this case.

However, the university's prolonged silence on the matter does little to inspire confidence that it is on top of the problem.

If it does not soon disclose details of its difficulties, responsibility for tackling what is becoming Belfast's biggest eyesore must transfer to the university's sponsor department in government, the Department for the Economy.

However, the latest available departmental board minutes for February do not suggest that the department had recognised the significant risk inherent in the York Street campus, even though the project has been experiencing difficulties for some time.

If the department does not address the stalled campus - and its silence is also unhelpful - then it is clear that the real problem with the ghost campus is that it is being overseen by a ghost government.

It is therefore up to the Secretary of State to resolve the issue. A statement of intent from her in that respect is urgently required.