The credit crunch has left a major Stormont initiative floundering with the planned sell-off of civil service buildings halted.

The private finance initiative would have led to 65 separate government premises being taken over by the private sector.

Called Workplace 2010 and designed to support reforms across the NI Civil Service, it would have brought in a projected income of £175m.

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The project was initially suspended in October last while a Department of Finance and Personnel review was carried out, before being dropped this week completely.

A spokesperson said: "It simply does not make sense to proceed, given the decline in property values and the difficulty in securing finance."

The Executive would have benefited in the short term by selling off its offices for cash, but in the long term it would have paid rent and charges to the private companies who would have agreed to run and modernise the buildings.

(BMcC/JM)