Sustainable private financing initiative contracts

One critical element of PFI projects is the contract which binds the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) (project promoter) with the government (client). Drawing up the PFI contract is by no means a simple undertaking because elements of economy, social, technological and intellectual considerations will have to be coherently spelt out. Adding on to this now is the requirement to include sustainable considerations. However, this can be very vexing because sustainable project elements can have serious implications to the project implementation process, costing and viability. To assist circumvent of this challenge; a research was mooted to explore the best possible alternatives for incorporating sustainable considerations into PFI contracts. A fundamental starting point to achieve this is to firstly re-learn the fundamental elements of sustainability. This paper presents this investigation. With the aim was to establish the underpinning elements of sustainability within PFI contracts, a qualitative research method was used. The key findings were critically analyzed and the culminating findings were discussed. The findings suggest that whilst the key elements of sustainability can be identified, the challenge for incorporating them into the PFI contracts can be very vexing. This is especially with regard to its implementation when outlining the scope and role of the stakeholders in the PFI project.