The thorny topic was raised at the House of Keys this week with the scheme having been in the pipeline since 2007.
The refurbishment of the prom has been beset by delays due, in part of the Covid pandemic, and a number of defects during work, particularly the pink concrete.
Concerns have also been raised over the fact the horse tram tracks do not run the full length of the prom to the Sea Terminal while motorists were left bemused by the ‘roundels’ put in place
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Despite these issues, the Douglas prom project didn't go over its final budget, Treasury Minister Dr Alex Allinson told members during the House of Keys.
He said the project cost £25 million while an additional £2 million had been incurred from the capital inflation scheme.
The project took several years to complete and saw a number of complications - including being late, over its original budget and hampered by the Covid pandemic.
Dr Allinson said: ‘This was a complicated project when it started out but there were some significant delays.
‘It was originally scheduled to finish in October 2020 but that was pushed back to August 2021 caused by multiple delays including a global pandemic and a rescheduling of the scheme to account for the significant impact it had on some of the businesses on the prom.
‘In terms of value for money, if you look in terms of the amount of work done both below the surface and on the surface, I think this is a significant investment into the capital city of the Isle of Man and it had to done.
‘What we also don’t see is the significant improvements to utilities under the surface particularly the work done by Manx Utilities to improve the critical infrastructure in sewage, electricity supply and gas supply.
‘It had to be done although there was an increase in costs due to the overruns. It makes sense to spend this money although whether it could have been done cheaper if a pandemic hadn’t happened or if different restructuring had been done through the overall process is up for debate.’
Meanwhile, in a separate scheme, work began in the summer on the new sea wall which is replacing the existing railings along a 500m stretch of the Promenade from a point just south of the Douglas War Memorial on Harris Promenade to a point opposite the Empress Hotel on Central Promenade.
The wall is being constructed from cast in-situ reinforced concrete with decorative surfaces that mirror the features on the concrete pillars that were there before.
The aim is to provide better protection from flooding and debris littering the prom during high waves.