The Rise and Fall of Public-Private-Partnerships: How Should LRT/Metro Transport Infrastructure be Funded in the United Kingdom?

The Public Private Partnership (PPP) procurement strategy was the United Kingdom (UK) government’s politically motivated preferred way of delivering light rail transit (LRT) Metro systems to meet its 2010 rail strategy; however it has failed to do so. Risk transfer has been a key issue with this form of finance and procurement, with only one full privately financed PPP LRT scheme delivered, that being Nottingham Express Transit (NET). It appears to be the case that PPP funding model works but only under near steady state conditions and some funding models, such as Design Build Finance Operate Maintain Model (DBFOM), are more fragile than others and become chaotic. Others sources of funds and procurement models from other countries need to be investigated to deliver schemes in the UK. It is clearly evident the UK lags behind Europe and North America with the introduction and use of other financial taxation instruments to deliver public infrastructure. However the Greater London Authority (GLA) is moving forward with the introduction of a betterment tax. The largest rail project in Europe Crossrail is not being delivered using PPP and is the first scheme in the UK to benefit from the newly introduced Business Rate Supplement tax levied on businesses within the GLA’s boundary. LRT schemes have a lot to offer the UK, particular, as the cities and urban conurbations continue to grow and the need for safe, efficient, environmentally friendly and congestion reducing transport options grows in proportion. In future effective and sustainable procurement strategies are needed, possibly focusing on public sector funding for the capital expenditure and private or private/public funding for service provision.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Web
  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 12p
  • Monograph Title: European Transport Conference, 2009 Proceedings

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01345742
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Jul 28 2011 10:02AM