Infrastructure Minister Tim Baker has asked Tynwald this week to support an extra £13.8m from the Capital Transactions Account for the Steam Packet’s new ferry terminal in Liverpool.

The £13.8m is in addition to the project’s current budget of £38m. It is intended to ’address the financial impacts to date of the Covid-19 pandemic and of the additional site remediation and quay wall protection works required’.

The original price was meant to be £25m, so the project’s cost has already more than doubled.

The work was originally planned to be completed this February but was beset by delays, with it now due to be finished next year.

Mr Baker said in April that if necessary he would return to Tynwald for extra funding, and also that more delays could not be ruled out.

He cited the impact of the pandemic on productivity in the UK’s construction sector.

The government said these included on-site social distancing requirements, key staff being unable to attend the site, delays in the supply chain caused by social distancing in factories, supply chain firms being unable to stay in business and a shortage of building materials.

It added that options around a solution to protect the quay wall from further damage are still being considered.

Another factor it outlined was the discovery and ’urgent remediation’ of more than 200 voids, culverts and shafts which are in addition to approximately 100 identified prior to the project getting under way.

Infrastructure Minister Tim Baker said: ’However, it’s crucial people understand that finding and implementing a solution to the quay wall protection issue and overcoming other challenges mean this is likely to move into the following year.

’The funding being sought this week is designed to provide budget capacity past the post-election Tynwald sittings and, once scour procurement and associated negotiations are complete, the Department will return to Tynwald for the balance of funding required to complete the project.’

Meanwhile, the Steam Packet’s new managing director Brian Thompson told Manx Radio that the excessive costs are ’worrying’ for any island resident, but that it would be worth it to secure the future of the ferry services to Liverpool.

He described this route to the city centre as being ’vital’ for the people of the island.

Speaking broadly about the business at this stage of the pandemic, Mr Thompson said that bookings to the island were up.

Mr Thompson also explained that had only just heard about the delays and extra cost, as it was not a Steam Packet project, but rather they were working with the Department of Infrastructure on a consultative basis after advising them of what their requirements were for the terminal.

Steam Packet chairman Lars Ugland earlier this year blamed the terminal’s soaring costs on its poor and unsuitable design, after the government selected the American engineering company AECOM as designers.

Mr Ugland also lambasted Minister Baker for telling Tynwald that the earlier additional costs were incurred because of the design of the Manxman’s (the new ferry) bow thruster power, and explained that this was not an issue.