The private finance initiative - public private partnerships

Since its launch in 1992, capital expenditure under the UK government's private finance initiative (PFI) has reached almost pound 10 billion and is set to continue to rise, By the end of the century, it is expected that projects commissioned under the PFI will account for approximately 13% of what would otherwise be government capital expenditure. The initiative has clearly influenced the role and workload of the civil engineering profession, and will continue to do so. This paper aims to provide an overview of what the PFI is, where it has come from, where it is now and how it may develop.