The Economic Benefits of Sustainable PFI Project: A case study of Newport Southern Distributor Road

The purpose of this paper is to examine the sustainability performance of an individual highway Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme in the UK, mainly to scrutinize its economic benefits at three levels: project, local and national. The fieldwork was undertaken through a detailed and specific set of semi-structured interviews in the case study of Newport Southern Distributor Road (SDR). Five main drivers for the sustainability approach are identified and the transferability is analysed. Research finds that the Newport PFI case demonstrates whole life cost savings for both the client and the contractor. The social-economic contribution of the PFI project is critical to the local urban regeneration programs and sustainable community development. Furthermore, effectively applying the government`s financial incentives and advanced technology could efficiently reduce the capital cost without negative impact on the project`s quality and time. The sustainability aspects of this project could be extracted and transferred to other highway projects, in particular through the PFI procurement system.