The New Schools Privately Financed Project is known as a privately financed project (PFP). It is a form of public-private partnership. The NSW Department of Education (DET) and NSW Treasury are among the first in NSW to use this new approach for infrastructure needs.
Government policy is to maximise private investment in infrastructure to the extent that this results in better and more efficient delivery of existing public services.
Government policy also supports a total asset management approach to acquiring, maintaining and upgrading physical assets to provide services to the community.
PFPs are attractive to private investors, contractors and governments for different but related reasons. Briefly:
■ income tax assessment legislation permits deductions to investors for early year losses, interest, fees and depreciation claims for private infrastructure projects
■ contractors can secure large ongoing contracts over a longer term than is possible with conventional tender work; they also have more scope to develop better designs
■ governments can achieve a number of objectives, such as simplifying management processes, lowering procurement costs and ensuring that assets are maintained.