Profits and perils of public private partnerships

Around the world, cash-strapped governments are following the UK in turning to public-private partnerships to fund projects. No-one disputes the vast commercial potential for what may yet emerge as a new asset class. But deals are often fiendishly complicated and can provoke public doubts. Getting to grips with contract details is vital.

       
Toll roads offer reliable cashflows to back PPP deals
but contracts need to be tightly drafted

The profits and risks of the public-private partnership (PPP) approach to building and operating infrastructure projects are apparent from the new A4 motorway, a major European artery from Germany, across southern Poland, to the Ukraine. The e80 million ($72 million) cost of upgrading the Krakov-Katowice section has been funded not by the cash-strapped Polish taxpayer but by the European Bank for Reconstruction&Development.

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