With major projects such as the Southern Cross Station, the consortia will recoup the cost of construction, inclusive of the risk premium, opportunity cost of capital, and profit margins over many years. Payments are structured so that the total cash flow over the concession period will be sufficiently large enough to compensate for these factors. The longer the concession period, the higher the total payments by the state. With repayments being met from future budgets, the extent of these repayments will impact on budget flexibility for alternative expenditure.