The Treasury's infrastructure plan for £310bn of investment has come under strong criticism from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which says it lacks strategic vision and clear priorities and is simply 'a long list of projects requiring huge amounts of money'.

The committee's report, Planning for Economic Infrastructure says the Treasury's plans to develop new economic infrastructure, which call for around two thirds (64%) of the investment to be wholly owned and financed by the private sector, are not 'credible' under the current financial circumstances.

Although the Treasury has identified 40 key projects and programmes, PAC maintains that many of the programmes are broad categories and that in total they add up to more than 200 individual projects.

PAC's report says: 'This does not suggest a properly targeted and prioritised infrastructure plan. The Treasury will need to work more forcefully with departments, regulators, contractors and investors to agree the priorities for the projects that will be undertaken.'

PAC chair Margaret Hodge warned that with most of the planned investment in energy and transport coming from the private sector, households were likely to end up shouldering the cost through higher energy bills and fares. She called on the government to urgently assess the impact on consumers.

'Although the level of government support required is not yet clear, it will be either consumers or taxpayers who will have to pay up, and so openness about the impact of government decisions is essential,' Hodge said.>

Richard Threlfall, KPMG's head of infrastructure, building and construction, said: 'With government spending under pressure, the UK has no choice other than to look to the private sector for infrastructure investment. What we need from government is a clear vision of the infrastructure development needs of the country and consistency between government message and action in order to build confidence amongst developers and investors.'

Threlfall called on the government to consider re-establishing tax relief on infrastructure investments, in line with other G20 countries, as a way of encouraging job creation and capital investment.