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Expectations are high regarding the potential benefits of public-private partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure development in low-income countries. The development community, led by the G20, the United Nations, and others, expects these partnerships between goverments and private companies
in infrastructure service provision to aid transformational mega-projects, as well as efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet PPPs have been widely used only since the 1990s, and discussion of their efficacy is still dominated by best-practice guidance, academic studies that
focus on developed countries, or ideological criticism. Meanwhile, practitioners have quietly accumulated a large body of empirical evidence on the actual performance of PPPs. The purpose of this book is to summarize and consolidate what this critical mass of evidence-based research indicates about PPPs in low-income countries, and thereby develop a more realistic perspective on the practical value of these mechanisms. With a primary focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, though
drawing on critical insights from other regions, it demonstrates that the benefits of such partnerships will only be realised if expectations remain modest and projects are subject to transparent evaluation and competition.
List of contents
- 1: Introduction: The Evidence-based Critique of PPPs
- 2: The Performance of PPPs in Developing Countries: The Evidence
- 3: Case Study: Maputo Toll Road, sub-Saharan Africa's First "Transformational" Transport PPP
- 4: The Rise and Fall of Brownfield Concessions
- 5: Case Study: Nelspruit, sub-Sarahan Africa's Last Water Concession
- 6: Management Contracts: Poor Performance or Misunderstood Objectives?
- 7: Case Studies: Searching for Successful Management Contracts in sub-Saharan Africa
- 8: Sub-Saharan Africa's IPP Policy Dilemma
- 9: Case Studies: IPP Tender Programs in sub-Saharan Africa: Disruptive Moments or Business as Usual?
- 10: The Future of PPPs in Low-Income Countries: Blended Finance
- 11: Case Study: Kigali Bulk Water: How Much Blended Finance is Too Much?
- 12: Conclusions
- Appendix: A Cautionary Case Study from South Asia: The Bangladesh BOT Program
About the author
James Leigland is an independent adviser on technical and policy issues affecting infrastructure investment in developing countries. He is the former technical adviser and head of technical assistance at the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), where he also designed and managed PIDG's Viability Gap Funding program. He served as chairman of the Technical Review Panel for DFID's Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility, and as the Public-Private Partnership Adviser on the PIDA Panel of Experts, a peer review team that evaluated the outputs of the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) on behalf of the African Union, NEPAD, and the African Development Bank. He is also the former Africa team leader of the World Bank's Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) and the founding manager of PPIAF's Sub-National Technical Assistance program.
Summary
Public-private partnerships have been widely promoted in the international development community as solutions to severe infrastructure problems in low-income countries since the 1990s. This book summarizes the growing body of evidence on the actual performance of PPPs and develops a more realistic perspective on their practical value.
