National Infrastructure Commission will help get UK investment back on track, but it all boils down to securing capital
Manish Gupta, EY Head of Infrastructure Corporate Finance, comments on todays launch of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC):
“Today’s launch of the NIC, together with the appointment of the Commissioners, is an important first step in providing greater certainty to investors around the UK's infrastructure programme.
“The NIC will provide the much needed thread across individual government departments and help focus on investment which will be essential in maintaining and enhancing the UK’s productivity and competitiveness.
“The appointment of some highly influential and experienced Commissioners, within a month of forming the NIC, is an indication of the commitment to the programme.
“However, it does all boil down to securing financing. Among the key challenges facing the NIC will be the ability of Government to finance directly, or to support the raising of adequate capital, in a relatively short period of time.
“With the scale and ambition of some of these projects, such as Crossrail 2 and High Speed 3, the NIC may also find that addressing skills shortages and the capacity of the UK construction industry could be thorny issues when it comes to delivering this much needed investment.”
