Coalition
warned on credibility of
£310bn plan

The Public Accounts Committee said the Treasury had not properly prioritised 200 key projects, and urged ministers to be “realistic” about how much private and public investment can be raised as the economy stalls.

It also warned that consumers will shoulder the main burden of the costs through higher rail fares and utility bills.

The criticism came in a report into the National Infrastructure Plan, which was launched in 2010 and last updated in December. It listed projects costing a total of £310bn – with around £200bn of that expected to be wholly funded by the private sector.

The committee stressed that investment in power generation facilities, roads, railways, airports, ports and communication systems is “crucial for stimulating economic growth”.

But it added: “We are not convinced that a plan requiring £310bn of investment in infrastructure is credible given the current economic climate, the cutbacks in public finances and the difficulty in raising private finance for projects on acceptable terms.”

The Treasury says it has prioritised 40 programmes, but many of those cover broad areas and there are actually 200 individual projects “whose relative priority is not clear”, according to the committee.

The cross-party group of MPs went on: “Given the financial
constraints affecting both the Government and consumers’ ability to fund infrastructure expenditure on this scale, the Treasury should assess how much investment can realistically be financed and develop a coherent strategy using tightly defined criteria to identify and prioritise project.”

The report cautioned that investors would be reluctant to come forward with money “until government policy is clear and consistent”.