The John Laing building group has stopped looking at small schemes for the government’s Private Finance Initiative because of the costs and risks involved. Finance director James Armstrong called for a reduction in red tape to help unblock the scheme, which was designed to help major public projects proceed with no financial burden on the state. The high cost of tendering for projects of up to £1m has caused Laing to raise the minimum size of scheme it will consider to £30m-£40m.
- The Daily Telegraph 31/7/96 page 25
