An All-Island Infrastructure Delivery Company: Could Joint Delivery Unlock Northern Ireland’s Wastewater Future?

Northern Ireland’s wastewater infrastructure has become one of the greatest barriers to economic growth. The latest evidence suggests that approximately 55,000 planned homes face some level of wastewater constraint, major regeneration schemes remain stalled, businesses are unable to expand, and housing shortages continue to worsen because the infrastructure beneath our towns and cities cannot accommodate new development.

The debate has largely focused on how Northern Ireland should fund NI Water. However, another option deserves serious consideration: the creation of an all-island joint infrastructure delivery company, jointly owned by NI Water and Uisce Éireann (formerly Irish Water), dedicated specifically to planning and delivering major wastewater infrastructure projects.

Rather than changing ownership of either utility, such a model would combine expertise, procurement capability and investment planning while allowing both organisations to retain responsibility for their own customers and regulatory obligations.

There is already a precedent for cross-border cooperation in utilities. ESB Group successfully owns and operates Northern Ireland Electricity Networks while continuing to function under separate regulatory arrangements. Although water presents different legal and funding challenges, the principle that strategic infrastructure can operate successfully across jurisdictions has already been demonstrated. There is also the recent cross-border rail announcements on the expansion of the rail transport network.

The benefits could be substantial.

A joint delivery company would create greater engineering and project delivery capacity by combining specialist expertise, project management and technical knowledge from both organisations. Both utilities face ageing infrastructure, increasingly demanding environmental standards and growing pressure to facilitate housing and economic development. Pooling resources could strengthen their ability to deliver large-scale wastewater projects more efficiently.

Procurement could also become more effective as a larger programme of capital works would provide greater certainty for contractors and enable longer-term framework agreements that often reduce costs while improving productivity and increasing competition.

Another important benefit would be long-term infrastructure planning. One of the recurring themes emerging from recent reports is that Northern Ireland’s wastewater investment has been constrained by short-term public spending cycles. A joint delivery company could prepare rolling investment programmes over 10 to 20 years, allowing projects to be prioritised, designed and delivered in a far more strategic way.

Environmental gains could also be significant. Rivers and catchments cross political borders, making wastewater management an inherently shared challenge, improving water quality and strengthen climate resilience.

Ultimately, the biggest prize is economic. The OCO Global report 02619-ni-wastewater-tpi_web.pdf estimates that continued wastewater constraints could leave Northern Ireland’s economy almost £11 billion smaller by 2040 than it might otherwise be. While these are modelled projections rather than certainties, they demonstrate the scale of opportunity associated with unlocking housing, regeneration and private investment through improved infrastructure.

Importantly, such a model would not require either government to surrender ownership of its water utility. NI Water and Uisce Éireann would continue to operate independently while collaborating on major capital projects where shared expertise and economies of scale offer the greatest value.

There are, however, challenges.

The first is funding. A joint delivery company could improve how infrastructure is delivered but cannot generate investment on its own. New treatment works, sewer upgrades and network expansion would still require long-term financing through government capital, borrowing or other sustainable funding mechanisms.

Practical differences between the two jurisdictions—including planning systems, environmental regulation and public finance rules—would also need to be managed and require careful political agreement.

Despite these challenges, the concept deserves serious consideration. Similar models of cross-border cooperation already exist across energy and other sectors, demonstrating that shared infrastructure can be successfully delivered while maintaining separate ownership and regulatory arrangements.

Northern Ireland’s wastewater crisis is no longer simply an environmental or utility issue. It has become a major constraint on housing supply, inward investment and economic growth. In addition to significant additional investment, institutional arrangements are required to deliver the investment more effectively.

An all-island joint infrastructure delivery company would not be a silver bullet, nor would it remove the need for sustainable funding. However, by combining expertise, strengthening procurement and improving project delivery, it could become an important part of the solution. As policymakers search for ways to unlock Northern Ireland’s economic potential, innovative models of practical cooperation deserve to be part of the debate.