Source: Herald & Times

By Bill Taylor, Winkfield, Tradespark Road, Nairn

RONNIE Cramond (Why PFI/PPP is bound to be more expensive - December 11) claims to be a former civil servant and have some knowledge of public-sector finance. What he seems to ignore, however, is the inbuilt inefficiencies of the public sector when managing the state's assets (I, too, am a former civil servant) and the fact that the Civil Service does not account fully for its costs when it borrows. Those "costs" never include the cost of Treasury and/or the costs of the Civil Service borrowing authority. Similarly, the "cost of borrowing" from the market does not include any allowance for "risk". When was the last time that a public-sector authority was "fined" (suffered a penalty) for failing to achieve the requirements of a facilities management specification - a risk the private sector faces every day in PFI/PPP projects?

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Posted by pichu at December 13, 2006 9:05 PM