Modern project finance is understood as a method of finance, whereby the borrower is generally a standalone corporate entity, often a special purpose vehicle and, therefore, a single-project enterprise. The advent of large-scale securitisation of project finance debt instruments helped to attract significant institutional capital, which had shied away from infrastructure debt because of the risk/return profile. This chapter argues that despite what some economic theory might predict, the manner in which a project is financed imposes formal ‘constraining and enabling’ conditions at all phases of the built-asset lifecycle. Successful project organisation and delivery depends upon an adequate understanding of these dynamics. Project governance should also ensure that there is a system of a detailed post-project evaluation of costs and benefits. The need for new public infrastructure in the twenty-first century is growing at a time when public finances are constrained
