UK: THE ROAD BLOCK THAT LEADS BACK TO THE TREASURY.

Would-be financiers of public sector projects have many hurdles to jump.

In the early 1980s the Chartered Institute of Transport staged a day-long seminar on the role private capital could play in financing infrastructure development. One of the early speakers, a transport minister, painted an encouraging picture. The Government wanted to involve the private sector and this was to be the way ahead. The audience, many of them from the construction industry as well as transport, was enthused. This was the message they wanted to hear.