Quote:
Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington
so not that money making scam PFI then!
|
Could be, Margaret. Both are ways of spending money you haven't got.
Borrow it and it shows as Government debt,which looks bad, you pay interest and when the loan is up you borrow it again because you haven't any cash to pay it off.
Under PFI it
doesn't show as Government debt so it looks good. But the money men build it and own it and you 'rent' it off them for 25 to 30 years, usually. You pay that much in rent that by the end of the contract it's cost you about 5 times what it cost to build and you now own a 30 year old obsolete hospital. In the meantime the hospital trust has had to pay so much in 'rent' they've overspent their budgets every year, gone in debt, had to close wards, get rid of staff etc.
Take your pick.