Aggregate number and value of PFI projects by year

2.14 A total of 563 PFI transactions reached financial close by 4 April 2003, with a total capital value of £35.5 billion. Over £32.1 billion of the total has been signed since 1997. Chart 2.5 also provides projected figures for the capital value of PFI investment under projects signed or expected to be signed in 2003 and 2004. (A more detailed breakdown of planning for future PFI projects can be found in Chapter 7, paragraph 7.21 onwards.)

2.15 The number and total capital value of PFI projects has increased in recent years. In 1995, projects amounting to £666.8 million were signed, whereas PFI investment from 1997 to 2001 has averaged £2.6 billion a year. With the London Underground contract signed in December 2002, the capital value of PFI contracts in 2002 is more than double the comparable figure for 1997 - comparable growth to that in PSNI. As detailed in paragraph 2.9, PFI has remained a relatively constant proportion of increasing total investment since 1997, at between 10 and 13.5 per cent. The PFI contracts with the Tubelines and Metronet consortia to modernise London Underground, signed in 2002 and 2003 represent the most significant PFI contracts signed to date by capital value, and consequently a very high proportion of the market of PFI contracts in those years. Nevertheless, even if the London Underground contracts are set aside, the total value of PFI projects due to close in 2003 is, at over £5.5 billion, expected to be the highest to date.

2.16 The construction and investment undertaken through these PFI projects has already delivered, through the 451 completed projects, over 600 operational facilities, as Chart 2.6 illustrates. These are the public facilities which have opened and are in use. More are under construction or in procurement. The increase in the pace of government investment since 1997 is reflected in the acceleration in the delivery of operational PFI facilities around 2000, as the construction phase of these projects is completed.