In a recent podcast on duncancartlidgeonline.com I pointed out that many of the Private Finance Initiative or PFI deals struck in the 1990s are coming to an end. As a concept you either loved or hated the PFI, a procurement model where the private sector, designed, financed and ran infrastructure projects such as schools, hospitals and prisons over a 20 to 25-year period in return for an annual unitary charge. After much criticism, especially from the trades unions, the PFI was finally buried as a public sector procurement option in 2018 or was it? Well, just when you thought it was safe to come from under the duvet, could a form of PFI be going to make a comeback? In her statement in July the chancellor announced she is planning to bring in and I quote ‘a very large number of private equity fund operators’ – surely, they wouldn’t dare – would they?
Speculation is such that some newspapers in Scotland, where the PFI was particularly hated, have already got their retaliation in first by running stories highlighting some of the previous PFI projects under the headline, ‘Biggest PFI disasters.’
Duncan Cartlidge FRICS
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