The British government could lease chunks of its road network to the private sector as prime minister David Cameron seeks to improve the country’s infrastructure to stop it falling further behind its competitors.
The move to seek help from sovereign wealth funds and private investors came after news that Mr Cameron had only managed to secure £2 billion from pension funds for new projects by 2013 – far short of a £20 billion target.
“The truth is, we are falling behind, falling behind our competitors,” Mr Cameron told an audience of engineers in London yesterday. “There is now an urgent need to repair the decades-long degradation of our national infrastructure . . .
“We need to look urgently at the options for getting large-scale private investment into the national roads network – from sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and other investors.” – (Reuters)
