The upgrading of the A6 Derry to Belfast road should be a priority spend for the extra £136 million allocated to Northern Ireland by the British Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The main Derry to Dungiven road.
In his autumn budget statement today George Osborne said the Northern Ireland Executive would receive the additional through the Barnett formula.
The system governs how the devolved nations are funded by Westminster and means over the next two years, Northern Ireland would see a net increase.
Mr Durkan said the additional funding was a “welcome additional” to the Assembly’s budget for the next two years.
He added: “Work on upgrading the A6 which missed out in recent Executive decisions should be a priority for the additional money which derives from increased infrastructure investment by the Treasury.”
Mr Durkan the Executive should also use the Barnett extra from the UK government’s energy bill measures to help mitigate fuel poverty here.
He added: “The confirmation that the planned fuel duty rise is cancelled will be welcomed by all those who are finding road fuel costs increasingly difficult given other squeezes on their income.”
Mr Durkan concluded: “The UK government’s accompanying statements expressing support for the Northern Ireland economy and jobs here might have a bit more credibility if Whitehall weren’t directly threatening the good performance of public sector jobs here in Revenue and Customs and DVA.”
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