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 - around £4500 for every Scot.
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.
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 Labour Party said: "When you break it down it is good value for money."
From The herald
