The PFI's problems are not confined to the bid process. Even after a facility is up and running, there is a constant struggle between client and consortium over its running costs - as we're finding out at Edinburgh. The thinking was always that the risky bit of PFI project was the construction phase, when asbestos in the walls was likely to come to light, or a World War Ⅱ bomb unearthed. The operational phase that followed was supposed to be the safe bit; so safe, in fact, that a contractor that had successfully erected a building could look forward to making a fat profit by selling its stake in it to a secondary market. The buyer is happy to do this because it gains a supposedly risk-free income stream from the operational profits of the project over the remainder of the 30-year contract. For example, two years ago Carillion sold its stake in the country's first PFI hospital, Darent Valley in Kent, to Barclays for pound;16.4m - four times its original investment. But as more schemes become operational and get to their first financial review period, this phase of the PFI is appearing increasingly risky.
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