Scots will have to pay a "phenomenal" £22.3bn over the next four decades to fund all the Public Private Partnership projects across the country.
New figures released by the Scottish Executive have revealed the true cost of the 102 contracts for the privately built schools, prisons and hospitals which, in some cases, will be privately run.
The PPP statistics highlight the legacy of taxpayer debt the new SNP executive has inherited from the previous administration: around £4500 for every Scot.
The SNP has consistently opposed PPP developments, formerly known as PFI. Now, in power, the party has discovered it is almost impossible to extricate itself from the contracts, some of which will last 40 years.
The figures were released following a parliamentary question from Jamie Hepburn, SNP MSP. Mr Hepburn said: "It's staggering. The scale of this shows up the shortsightedness of PPP and PFI."
Last week The Herald revealed that Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, had cancelled plans for a £100m prison to be built and run by the private sector. Instead, the 700-cell prison in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, would be run by the public sector. He was able to do this only because no contract had yet been signed.
The issue of PPP rose to the top of the political agenda before the May elections, with an ICM poll showing that Scottish voters said their highest priority was to see all state schools and hospitals built and run by public bodies, rather than private companies.
Under the PFI/PPP, a private-sector consortium designs, builds and finances a prison, school or college. In many cases, the public building is then run by the private sector.
Professor Allyson Pollock, head of the Centre for International Public Health Policy at Edinburgh University, said: "This is a phenomenal amount of debt being incurred and stored up, not only for this generation but for future generations too. Others have noted the ways in which we are mortgaging our children's futures.
"The high costs of PFI squeezes expenditure on public services spending. In health, there is very good research evidence of the ways in which PFI drains money from public services and as a result services are cut and closed to pay the PFI charges and profits of the banks and shareholders."
A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: "This absolutely underlines the need to develop cheaper, more efficient alternative methods of investment in our public infrastructure, which is exactly what the Scottish government is doing with the Scottish Futures Trust."
Scottish Futures Trust will provide lower-cost borrowing opportunities. It will be open to local authorities and other public bodies to choose between PPP and Scottish Futures Bonds.
However, a spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party said: "At the end of the day, it is not the procurement process that people are interested in but the fact their kids are going to a school with great facilities. Hundreds of new schools and other public buildings have been rebuilt and refurbished under PPP and that would not have been possible otherwise.
"This figure does sound like a lot but actually PPP is only a fraction - 27% of the capital expenditure - of the overall spent on improving public buildings under the last executive. This headline figure not only covers the building costs but also the cost of managing these schools and prisons over a lifetime contract. When you break it down it is good value for money."
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