workers fight back Ontario Hospital projects worth £4 billion have been given the go-ahead by Health Secretary John Reid to seek funding through the controversial Private Finance Initiative.
Many of the new projects reflect the massive cost inflation of PFI schemes since the first wave was rubberstamped back in 1998.
The capital cost of the first 21 PFI hospital projects sigbed under New Labour averaged just £71 million: the next ten projects approved averaged £190m apiece.
But ten more recent PFI schemes in the final stages or awaiting approval average a staggering £396m each, raising serious questions about affordability and the impact such huge annual payments will have on other local health
The latest projects to be added to the list include:
• Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire (£880m)
• North Bristol and South Gloucestershire (£310m)
• Papworth Hospital NHS Trust (£148m)
Sandwell and West Birmingham Acute Trust (£591m)
A new maternity and Children's Hospital in Leeds (£204m)
• Hillingdon Hospital redevelopment, West London, (£271m)
• North Mersey Future Healthcare Project (£1,008m) incorporating the redevelopment of the Royal Liverpool University Hospital (at a cost of £499m), and
• Northwick Park and St Mark's (£305m) (NW London) . Audit Office to probe PFI profits MASSIVE windfall profits coined in by PFI consortia from refinancing and selling on their stake in completed projects are to be investigated by the National Audit Office.
The so-called "secondary market" in PFI-built hospitals, roads, prisons, schools and other projects has expanded as the number of completed proects come on stream.
Latest estimates suggest that around £32 billion worth of schemes are now operational, and the Financial Times has
SERVICE NOT WEALTH SERVICE and sold.
So far at least £700m worth of deals are known to have taken place, most of them in the last two years.
And while straightforward refinancing schemes for PFI projects are now obliged to share some of the proceeds with the public sector, this does not apply to the booming market in equity - hence the NAO investigation.
The equity stakes are a relaNew UCLH building in Central London nears completion at a thumping E420 million - but far more under PFI by Stephen Norris.
Since it hit the skids in the aftermath of the Potters Bar train crash, Jarvis has continued rapidly downhill. It just recorded a staggering £280m loss in the six months to September, and seen its share price tumble from a peak of £7.80 to a low of £0.07.
A "dead cat bounce" in the Jarvis share price at the end of December followed the announcement that the company is seeking a major new investor, while continuing the fire sale of its holdings in 14 PFI projects. It has just negotiated to sell its share of the London Underground PPP project to Amey for just under £150m.
Meanwhile Jarvis has had to stop work on rebuilding London's Whittington Hospital and other projects as it seeks a suitable buyer.