Construction firm urges public private partnership deals

One of the largest construction firms in Europe, Royal BAM, has called on the Government to provide a stimulus package to the sector by providing public private partnership contacts.

Such contracts famously helped to fuel infrastructure construction during the boom, with Royal BAM completing various projects in the transport, healthcare, educational, water and waste sectors.

Theo Cullinane, chief executive of BAM contractors in Ireland, has called on the Government to roll out the public private partnership projects in tandem with the Government’s ongoing austerity measures.

He said the construction sector had suffered an unprecedented downturn. “The Irish economy and our industry have endured an unprecedented 60 months of recession.

“Government must now deploy a stimulus package in parallel with its austerity programme to help mitigate the results of this recession and ensure the continued flow of much needed private sector investment into this country in the form of pension funds and institutional investors,” he said.

Finance Minister Micheal Noonan has previously indicated half of the money raised from the sale of state assets could be used to finance public private partnership infrastructure projects.

However, Mr Cullinane said the finance to build new public private partnership infrastructure could be raised privately and it would not add a cent to the ballooning government debt.

“By using the public private partnership model, we will create employment and retain the highly skilled construction and project management resources that were developed within Ireland in recent years.

“We will also be vastly improving our infrastructure and the Irish economy will be seen internationally to be the right country for private sector investment, with the right infrastructure product and risk and tax environment.

“Financially, under this model, the State will recover revenue through taxation; equity and debt will be provided by the private sector at competitively tendered rates; and these transactions will be off the Government’s balance sheet and won’t contribute to the national debt,” he said.

He said the combination of corporate tax rate and improved infrastructure would make the country a more attractive destination for foreign direct investment.

“Along with our corporate tax rate and skilled workforce, Ireland’s public infrastructure must match that of the best in the world, if we are to be competitive in attracting to Ireland the highly sought after foreign direct investment companies.”