Private sector finance is more readily available for public projects in the Republic than in the North, according to a new report published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The report into Public Private Partnerships to fund public sector projects has shown the average value of projects is £6 million sterling (€10 million) in the North compared to a projected £40 million in the South.

A four-month inquiry by the Assembly's cross-party committee for Finance and Personnel also outlined that the use of such partnerships is less well developed in the North than it is in other parts of the UK.

A total of 23 public/private funded contracts, including the £19.8 million construction of a college for Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education, have now been awarded in Northern Ireland.

But according to the inquiry, a higher level of private sector investment is needed for Northern Ireland to address an estimated £1 billion deficit in public services requirements.

Research by the Confederation of British Industry points to an immediate £250 million deficit in the health sector and a £500 million deficit in the education sector. In its Programme for Government, the Northern Ireland Assembly says it will find a strategy to deal with the public funding deficit by March 2002.

The latest report from the cross-party committee has highlighted that other sources of finance must be secured to balance this deficit and that partnerships could be key to this in the future.