The provincial government is pursuing P3 options for the construction of 18 schools across the province, and is currently in the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) stage of the tendering process.

Opposition leader Kevin Taft has revealed that a leaked Treasury Board document indicates that the government will put up $512.6 million for the schools, a staggering increase from the initial estimate of $200 million (click here to read the Edmonton Journal report). Given the current high rate of inflation in Alberta and the length of time required to evaluate and negotiate P3 proposals,  such exorbitant cost increases for P3 projects are virtually inevitable. A recent British House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts report indicates that the average length of the tendering process for P3 projects is nearly three years.

If the schools are built as P3s, Albertan students will likely face significant quality problems.

Examples of other P3 schools show cause for concern:

• In Nova Scotia, the Liberal government of the late 1990s decided to build 55 schools on a P3 model, but the plan was scrapped after costs rose by $32 million. Nova Scotia lost several arbitration cases concerning the contract, with the result that schools lost the right to cafeteria and vending machine profits and saw the hourly rate for renting school sports facilities rise from $7 to $57.

• The Audit Commission of England and Wales reviewed 17 P3 schools constructed in Britain since 2001, and found the P3 schools were of consistently lower quality in terms of space, lighting, acoustics, hearing and ventilation, and there is no indication that the P3 schools were delivered faster.

• In a similar study, Audit Scotland found that the added cost of private financing was approximately 10% of the total project cost over the life of the contracts.

• Delays are a major concern. The Radisson Park School in southeast Calgary was built as a $5,8 million P3. The school finally opened last fall, after it took two years for contract negotiations to be completed.

Final cost figures on Alberta's P3 schools will not be available until the contract is awarded, but under the terms already announced, the private sector will be responsible for designing, building and financing the schools, as well as for major maintenance, such as a new roof or boiler.

Return to Current P3 Projects in Alberta.