AMONG the problems the island will have to face over the coming months is what major and expensive projects – including schools, mental health facilities, waste management and infrastructure improvements to the ports – does it wish to go ahead with and in what order of priority.

But perhaps an even more fundamental question is how they should be paid for.

Hundreds of millions of pounds are required and the States has nowhere near enough in ready cash. Neither does it have any prospect in the short run of generating the surpluses needed to finance the work.

That leaves the option of borrowing, which government has traditionally resisted. There are exceptions, like the way the ports holding account borrows on the basis of future income so that, while the user pays, the debt does not fall to the taxpayer as a whole.

Treasury is now questioning that model, while Commerce and Employment believes the ‘user pays’ approach is wrong for a strategic asset like an airport, which it argues should be operated for the benefit of the economy as a whole.

So borrowing, although some States members are opposed to saddling future generations with a debt, is looking increasingly likely and, as we report on page one, a group of local investors are interested in helping to provide finance.

The approach from ex-CI Traders chairman Tom Scott is interesting because it demonstrates that there are alternative funding sources available, despite the credit crunch and the difficulties of getting money from banks.

It also reinforces the view of Channel Islands Stock Exchange chief executive Tamara Menteshvili that the States was not being bold enough in seeking ways to raise money for key projects. ‘If you are sitting on lots of assets that generate income, like States housing and the runway, then you have income flows that could be securitised,’ she said.

It was an area in which the Guernsey-based CISX could help and Tom Scott’s investment vehicle, Bailiwick Investments, is listed with the local exchange.

Islanders will rightly be wary of expressions like ‘securitisation’ and ‘investment product’ at the current time – but that shouldn’t stop a thorough, open-minded look at all the options.