Tag Archive: Partnerships BC

The enormous cost of public-private partnerships

Aug 3, 2017
By
Three recent BC public private partnership (P3) hospitals developed in co-operation with the province’s Partnerships BC (PBC) will cost the public $260 million more than traditionally delivered projects, according to figures released in July in response to a Freedom of Information request.1 The three projects were the BC Children’s and BC Women’s Redevelopment Project Phase… View Article

Massey Bridge P3 borrowing costs yet another problem

Oct 14, 2016
By
As more information becomes available about the controversial $3.5-billion, 10-lane Massey Bridge project, concern about the project increases. Issues had already been raised about the cost and need for the project given questions about traffic growth, but the publication of two new documents raises concerns about the plan to build the bridge as a public private… View Article

Britain and British Columbia now moving in different directions on P3s. BC taxpayers may be the losers

May 20, 2014
By
A dozen years ago when Gordon Campbell’s newly elected British Columbia government decided it wanted to build its infrastructure with public private partnerships (P3s) it turned to England for advice.  The British model for infrastructure shaped much of what BC did in the ensuing years.  Lately, British Columbia and the UK have been going in different… View Article

Suspicion about private finance schemes growing in the UK

Jun 2, 2011
By
On May 16th British Columbia’s Auditor General published a report on Vancouver General Hospital P3 that raised serious doubts about public private partnerships in British Columbia.  In the UK, where P3s have been around a lot longer, the doubts are getting even graver. Under P3s, or private finance initiative (PFI) as they are known in… View Article

How flipping equity in P3s boosts profits and ends up with the projects being run from Channel Islands tax havens

Mar 9, 2011
By
Just like good stilton cheese, public private partnerships (P3s) were imported to British Columbia from the United Kingdom.  And like good stilton, in the UK P3s are starting to smell. In 2003, as part of its privatization agenda, BC’s government created Partnerships BC as a private company owned by the Ministry of Finance.  Partnerships BC’s… View Article

Problems for the South Fraser Perimeter Road P3?

May 12, 2010
By
There are some interesting recent developments on the South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) public private partnership project.  A press release issued Friday afternoon announced the successful bidder in response to a Requests for Proposal.  The results may not be what we were led to expect. The SFPR project is part of the Province’s Gateway project… View Article

BC opens door to private jails

May 2, 2010
By
The BC government has taken the next step down the privatization road by opening the door to private prisons.  On April 28th Partnerships BC posted a request for qualification on the BC Bid web site for a public private partnership (P3) for the Surrey Pretrial Centre. You need to register with Bid BC to see… View Article