ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[tomh009]

I'm afraid as well.  P3 is 2-3 times more expensive than going it alone.

This seems to say the costs of P3 are 2-3x those of non-P3.

Built in escalation rates.   Infrastructure Ontario is looking at a number of P3 agreements.   A number of very large P3 projects are experiencing escalation rates 2-3 times more expensive than CPI.  

So the private partner running the say, maintenance, experiences a 2% increase in a year.   The escalation rate in the agreement turns that 2% increase into a 6% increase that is passed onto the public partner.    This is real and has happened and is costing taxpayers on multiple levels huge.

But in fact the claim seems to be that the annual cost increases could be 2-3x those of a non-P3 arrangement.  Total P3 costs will not be 2-3x total non-P3 costs, based on this.  But I should think that every P3 contract would be different -- and no one was forced to sign one of these agreements.

I don't pretend to have any idea as to whether P3 is a good thing or not.  But let's at least be precise when comparing costs.