LinkedIn
Burges Salmon on Twitter
In the second interview of our Perspectives on Infrastructure series, Daniel Woolf of the Confederation of British Industry gives his thoughts on the current state of the UK infrastructure market and the ways in which the UK government can support the delivery by the private sector of its own ambitious infrastructure agenda.
The private sector has a hugely important role to play in that delivery, and access to appropriate funding is key. While our clients are telling us that the sector remains attractive for a number of Investors and funders, the CBI has identified the gap likely to result from the cessation of the UK’s involvement with the European Infrastructure Bank. To address this, the CBI has suggested that the UK government should consider setting up a UK infrastructure bank.
Pointing to the example of the Canadian Infrastructure Bank, Daniel comments that experience has been that :
"it assists the market as a vehicle to present innovative and unsolicited proposals, to help manage risks that the private sector cannot accept, and to provide competitive financing when a project is too large for the market". Closer to home, it is thought that the UK’s own experience via the Green Investment Bank provides a template and a model capable of being adapted for the UK infrastructure sector.
unknownx500
