The Regeneration Investment Fund for Wales – the vehicle behind the controversial sale of 16 parcels of public land in March 2012 – is to be brought to a close.
The RIFW is a £55m JESSICA fund set up to leverage private sector investment, managed by Amber Infrastructure with Lambert Smith Hampton as agent.
In a written statement to the Welsh Assembly, Welsh Assembly minister for housing and regeneration Carl Sargeant said the fund “as currently constituted” would be closed.
Sargeant is placing the fund under his direct control, “to ensure that the resources currently tied up in the fund should be made available for investment in communities around Wales as soon as reasonably possible.”
The resources in the fund will be reallocated for other projects, with the housing department directly in charge of the process.
This will begin by assessing the pipeline of projects and its assets and liabilities, though a RIFW investment in Neath and Port Talbot will go ahead as agreed.
Sargeant said he was committed to “doing what we can to safeguard as many projects as possible from the existing RIFW investment pipeline”.
The £25m European Regional Development Finance funding, which partly makes up the fund, may also be re-allocated in Wales.
The fund became mired in controversy after 16 parcels of land were sold for about £20m to Guernsey-based South Wales Land Developments through a private tender process, with concerns raised that taxpayers did not receive best value for the plots.
In September 2012 the Wales Audit Office began investigating the RIFW, with auditors looking at the decision to sell land privately rather than by auction.
In October, the fund’s investment activities were suspended on a temporary basis, and the housing department has launched separate investigations into whether the moratorium on the fund could be temporarily lifted.
Sargeant said in July that his confidence in RIFW had been “seriously damaged by the cumulative impact of investigations”.
With investigations continuing the Assembly minister said today he was “not in a position to remove the moratorium on the activities of the fund” – a move he said would simply extend uncertainty surrounding the fund.
He also expressed concern that resources would be left “lying unused in RIFW’s bank account” if no action was taken.
The Welsh Audit Office investigations continue.
chris.berkin@estatesgazette.com
