Definitions for "Private Finance Initiative"
is a way of getting private money into repair and improvement works to Council Housing. Being piloted now on a few small areas of Council homes in England, it involves a contractor taking on the risks of providing building and housing management services
An initiative by government to attract private finance for public works.
A Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is a method by which the central and municipal governments can build and operate roads, waterworks and other social infrastructure without having to bear the cost. The governments entrust construction and operation of infrastructure projects to private companies, which recover their expenses and generate profit by charging user fees. Builders raise funds to complete projects using future profit as collateral, and do not have to rely on their own financial standing. PFI became a common method of building social infrastructure in the U.K. in the early 1990s. It is now also widely used to provide services at public facilities. In Japan, a law to promote PFI was enacted in 1999. But some experts are concerned that this method will be used mainly for building public facilities, limiting the benefits of PFI in Japan.