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Haulage firms will find themselves paying for road network, says expert
d nm n i c. pe rryrar b cc. u k
HAULAGE FIRMS will increasingly find themselves paying for the road network they use, according to an expert on infrastructure funding.
Richard Abadie, partner and head of infrastructure finance at accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, says that although the transport sector received a relatively good deal (see box) from last week's Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), the government has still cut capital spending overall.
He says: -I don't see how the government can fund its genuine infrastructure needs without users paying a significant contribution for that asset. -Infrastructure projects in the future will increasingly require some support from the end-user.''
Abadie believes that the Runcorn suspension bridge, given the green light in the CSR. will end up being funded by toils.
"We have gone beyond the point where we can expect the general tax base to pay for infrastructure," he says. "What the government can't do is sporadically toll random pieces [of the road network]. It has to be part of a strategy."