Stanford says - "(Just imagine the recriminations if any public sector agency ever blew through its budget by a similar margin.)" - but should look no further than Newfoundland and Labrador.  What are the recriminations of blowing through a budget by similar margin? In NL, it will be horrendous power bills for years to come.  A public company is free to spend its money as it wishes.  The shareholders will decide if the decision is good or not and the company will suffer the consequences.  Not so for government projects where tax payers suffer the consequences.