The property industry has broadly welcomed the proposed changes, while still expressing some doubts over whether they will achieve what the government intends.
Andrew Russell, national director of consulting and head of Chestertons PFI unit, believes the Treasury review provides the kind of firm guidance which the industry needs. He adds: “The vigorous can-do approach behind the review indicates a welcome confirmation of government enthusiasm for PFI, and should mean that good schemes go faster and – in time – that bad schemes do not clog up the procurement process.”
This is a point that Associate Director at DTZ Debenham Thorpe Hugh Mulcahey picks up on: “The idea of vetting projects early on is good because it will inevitably mean some kind of prioritising. There was a real danger of flooding the market with too many projects and only a limited number of players and funding available.”
But Richard Ellis’ Steven Barter is more cautious pointing out that until the Government announces details on who will sit on the taskforce it will be difficult to know whether or not they will do a better job that the Panel.
But Russell is concerned over how much influence Whitehall will have in the selecting of projects and doubts whether assessing the commercial viability of projects before a scheme is launched will do what is intended: “The whole point of PFI is to expose such decisions to the market place, not to the judgements of civil servants.”
Moves to standardise the advertising of projects is also welcomed by Mulcahey: “A lot of time has been wasted in the past following up on adverts because they were insufficiently clear as to what was actually wanted or the crucial information was left out.”
And Grimley Partner Chris Hart believes accreditation for advisors is another good idea: “Too often in the past really poor quality of advice has been floated around both the private and public sectors and has contributed to wasted time and effort.”
But Russell is concerned because the “suggestion makes no mention of EU concern about the legality of such arrangements.”
EGi News 27/06/97
