Abandoning PPPs will hit taxpayers for the sake of ideology

13 DECEMBER 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Labour’s plan to abandon public-private partnerships is an expensive display of ideology, says the Taxpayers’ Union.

“It’s nuts to put hospitals and schools in charge of building projects when you have private developers are queueing up to do the job more efficiently, and take on the risk,” says Jordan Williams, Executive Director of the Taxpayers’ Union.

“Public-private partnerships save taxpayers’ money on capital and building costs. More importantly, they ensure schools and hospitals can focus on core business. A school principal can help more kids learn when they’re not distracted with issues of plumbing and electrical maintenance.

“The cost of Labour’s ideological display will shortly reach the billions. The Dunedin Hospital rebuild alone will incur a $1.4 billion capital cost if adopted as a government project, putting enormous pressure on the Finance Minister come Budget time.

“The question for Labour is what spending they’ll cut to make up this cost – or will taxpayers foot the bill?”

ENDS

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