A PROJECT to transform schools will eventually cost a council £729million – despite the buildings being worth just £150m.

The true cost of the schools project to North Lanarkshire Council was uncovered by MSP Jamie Hepburn when he asked a question of the Scottish Government.

The cost will be almost five times the schools' value once all the payments have been made over the course of a 31-year finance agreement known as PFI (Private Finance Initiative).

In answer to two Written Questions, the Scottish Government directed the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth MSP to figures pertaining to the North Lanarkshire Schools Project.

According to these sources the total capital value of the project is £150m, but the repayments when totalled together are estimated at £729m.

The repayments are made by the public sector bodies to the private sector consortiums that provided investment for the projects.

In this case, the payments due to be made are over 31 years, from 2006/07 until 2036/37.

The schedule means that by 2016/17 repayments will have totalled £166.9m, meaning the capital cost of the schools will have been met in full but payments will continue to the private consortium for an additional 20 years.

Payments for financial year 2011/12 were £19m and these are due to rise annually until the final payment in 2036/37 of £33.1m.

In all, 24 new schools were built under the PFI project, including St Andrew's High, Coatbridge; Stepps Primary; Airdrie Academy, and Bargeddie Primary.

The Scottish Government replaced the PFI financing model in 2011 with the NPD (Non-Profit Distributing) model which, Mr Hepburn says, is currently being administered through the Scottish Futures Trust and is delivering roads, schools and hospitals for a fraction of the cost to the taxpayer as PFI projects.

The SNP MSP said: "I was only too aware of the damaging legacy left by the Labour-LibDems' administrations in the form of such PFI projects, but even I was astounded by these figures.

"North Lanarkshire Council is looking to make £100m cuts to services, which may include closing schools, so to see such vast sums of public money being handed over to private investors turns the stomach.

"This ill-conceived scheme will saddle the people of the council area with an astronomical bill that will take a generation to pay off."

However, Councillor Jim Logue, the council's convener of Learning and Leisure Services, defended the school building programme.

He said: "Councils across the country were faced with a choice – make our schools fit for the 21st century or neglect our young people.

"We chose to improve our schools. But that comes at a cost, and PFI/PPP (Public–private Partnership)was, at that time, one of the few ways to fund this.

"The Scottish Government abolished PFI/PPP on coming to power and replaced it with the Scottish Futures Trust. Mr Hepburn claims the SFT is building schools and hospitals, but not a single school has been built in North Lanarkshire with SFT money because it has only just begun to make decisions on funding.

"I make no apology for making sure our young people can receive an excellent education in first-class facilities and we will continue to invest in them and in our communities."

stef.lach@heraldandtimes.co.uk