USING PROJECT FINANCE TO FUND INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS

For much of the past century, there has been an increased tendency for large infrastructure projects to be funded and operated by governments. Since the early 1980s, however, private-sector financing and management of such projects have experienced a dramatic revival. In some cases, this revival has taken the form of the "privatization" of an entire industry. But another, increasingly common, form has been the use of project finance to fund instrastructure investments. Besides being widely used in infrastructure investments like telecommunications and power generation in developing countries, the use of project finance has recently been extended by the U.K.'s Private Finance Initiative to fund public enterprises as diverse as the construction and operation of prisons, hospitals, subway cars, and the National Insurance computer system. 1996 Morgan Stanley.