Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 November 2004
203 Mr. J. O’Keeffe asked the Minister for Finance the advantages and disadvantages of public-private partnerships in relation to public work contracts; his views on whether the approach is cost effective; and his policy in relation to public-private partnerships in the future. [29061/04]
View answerPublic private partnerships have a continuing role to play in helping to address the infrastructure needs of this country. The advantages and disadvantages of using the PPP route are dependent, in particular, on achieving optimal risk transfer to the private sector over the lifetime of a project and the efficiencies gained from integrating design and construction of public infrastructure with operation and maintenance and, where appropriate, private finance.
The Government established the National Development Finance Agency in 2003 to provide advice to those procuring major public capital projects on the optimal means of financing such projects in order to achieve value for money and on all aspects of the financing, refinancing and insurance of public investment projects. With regard to the policy on PPPs in the future, the overall context is set by the multi-annual investment framework first announced in budget 2004, including estimates for PPP investment.
The Deputy may wish to note that, based on the latest information available from Departments in respect of PPPs funded by unitary payments, there will be a shortfall in PPP projects at construction stage in 2005 relative to the estimates announced in 2004. There are a number of reasons for this, including the lead time of 18 months to two years involved in bringing PPP projects to construction. I will be reviewing the position between now and the budget and I will be announcing a new multi-annual capital envelope for the period 2005-09 on budget day. The new capital envelope will take account of the PPP shortfall in 2005, overall investment priorities and the wider expenditure and budgetary position.
