Northern Ireland's regional development minister, who is due to resign on Thursday, has announced a ten-year funding plan for transport.

Democratic Unionist Party deputy leader Peter Robinson has also said he believes moves will be made to remove powers from ministries under his party's control after he his colleague social affairs minister Nigel Dodds resign.

Mr Robinson said he expected First Minister David Trimble to concede to Sinn Sein demands that other ministers take control of key areas of regional development and social affairs.

Mr Robinson and Mr Dodds, are to resign as part of their party's opposition to sharing power with republicans in the assembly.

The anti-Good Friday Agreement DUP has said it intends to rotate its two assembly executive posts around members of its party so that the seats will not go to pro-Agreement parties in the assembly.

Mr Robinson said: "I have sufficient evidence to suggest that they are attempting to diminish the powers of DUP ministers and the evidence of the weekend from [Sinn Fein's] Mitchel McLaughlin adds to the fact that they are even considering doing it in a structured basis where they would openly come to the assembly.

"That is certainly what Sinn Fein wants to do, I suspect it is what the Social Democratic and Labour Party wants to do. I suspect it is what David Trimble wants to do. Whether he has the bottle to do it, we will find out in the weeks to come."

At the press conference, Mr Robinson announced a 10-year transport plan proposing that private money should be brought in to help address "a decade of underinvestment" in Northern Ireland's public transport system.

'Cocktail of investment'

The East Belfast MP said: "I have made clear that Northern Ireland needs to spend about �2 bn extra over the next 10 years to improve public transport, maintain existing roads properly and enhance the key strategic routes.

"We have a totally unacceptable public transport system and face a bill of �183 m just to make the existing railways safe.

"A few weeks ago when the Northern Ireland Audit Office report confirmed the need to double spending on road maintenance, I said that we may have to abandon hundreds of miles of rural roads because we cannot afford to maintain them properly."

Mr Robinson said he was responding to last week's transport statement by the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and environment, transport and regions secretary.

"Announcing his 10 year transport plan, John Prescott said the transport system and services have suffered from decades of under-investment.

"These words are just as appropriate to Northern Ireland, indeed even more so, given the much lower level of spending on transport in Northern Ireland in comparison to Great Britain in recent years," he said.

'Ten year strategy'

Mr Robinson's party was unsuccessful in gaining majority support in the assembly last month for a motion to have Sinn Fein excluded from the power-sharing executive.

The DUP ministers have also boycotted executive meetings because they refuse to sit in cabinet with Sinn Fein education minister Martin McGuinness and health minister Bairbre de Brun.

But Mr Robinson said he said he was "delighted" that the assembly had "unanimously noted with concern the poor state of the public transport system in Northern Ireland and proposed that the minister for regional development should urgently implement a comprehensive and integrated transport policy to redress this problem".

"Earlier this year, I initiated the preparation of a 10-year-regional transportation strategy for Northern Ireland. My officials have already taken soundings from each of the 26 district councils on the key transport challenges. A paper on the main issues will be published in the autumn," he said.

Ensuring major developers help to meet the costs of the transport infrastructure needs created by their developments, introducing road user charges in congested areas, work place car parking levies, and perhaps tolls, should be considered, he said.