A 2019 UCP government promise to be aggressive in pursuing public-private partnerships (P3s) for building public facilities has fizzled in the education sector, with just five of 48 projects having used the model so far.

Infrastructure Minister Nathan Neudorf says P3s will no longer be the preferred method for major construction projects on Alberta schools. The model sees government agencies and private-sector companies collaborate on major infrastructure projects.

“Money, though very important, is not the only consideration,” Neudorf told CBC News in an interview earlier this month. “There are other considerations that we want to adopt into this process and give value to.”

Neudorf, who was appointed infrastructure minister and deputy premier in October, said he has nixed a plan to build six new school construction projects as a P3 bundle.

P3s make economic sense when a project costs more than $100 million, Neudorf said.

Since building a school can cost anywhere from $10 million to $90 million, depending on the size and complexity, governments often enter into P3 contracts to build “bundles” of the buildings, which usually use similar designs and materials, to save money.

In late 2019, former infrastructure minister Prasad Panda announced the United Conservative Party government intended to build five schools as P3s, including public and Catholic K-9 schools in Edmonton’s Keswick area, an early elementary years school in Calgary, a francophone school in Legal and a Catholic K-9 school in Cochrane. Panda said, if they found it would be good value for money, even more of the 24 school projects promised in the 2019 budget could be P3s.

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