Public-private partnerships (PPP) and financing for infrastructure development

What? PPPs are a policy option available to Governments for the provision of basic services (e.g. health, transportation), which seeks to involve the private sector. As such, they are an alternative to traditional full public provision of those services, particularly where the services are private in their nature and government resources are limited. For an overview of trends in Asia and the Pacific, see chapter 3 and chapter 6 of the Transport Review 2007).

How? To be successful, the risks and responsibilities associated with service provision need to be appropriately allocated between the public and private sectors. UNESCAP's efforts have focused on this area, particularly in the identification and testing of good practices that can be replicated as models in other countries, and in strengthening institutional capacities to manage the implementation of PPPs.

Recent activities:

• Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) for Infrastructure Development, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 2-5 October 2007.
  • Co-organized by UNESCAP and hosted by the Ministry of Planning and Budget.
  • High-level Expert Group Meeting (2-4 Oct.), Asia-Pacific Business Forum (4 Oct.) and the Ministerial Meeting (5 Oct. 2007).
  • Seoul Declaration on Public-Private Partnerships for Infrastructure Development in Asia and the Pacific, 5 Oct. 2007. (PDF)
  • Presentations, documents and outputs here.
  • Report of the conference: PDF
    
    
• Project: "Public-Private Partnership Alliance Programme for Capacity Building in Infrastructure Development and Provision of Basic Services", UN Development Account, 2007-2008, joint project of ESCAP, ECE and ECA.
  
  
• First session of the ECE Team of Specialists on public-private partnerships, Geneva, 28-29 February 2008 (ESCAP presentation)
  
  
• ESCAP Commission resolution 64/4 entitled "Implementation of the Seoul Declaration on Public-Private Partnerships for Infrastructure Development in Asia and the Pacific" was adopted on 30 April 2008 (PDF | Word).
  
  
• Public Private Partnerships in IDB Member Countries: Challenges and Opportunities, Jeddah, 1 June 2008. (ESCAP presentation)

Upcoming:

• National Consultation Workshop on Public-Private Partnership Delivery of Basic Services in Mongolia, Ulaanbataar, Mongolia, August/September 2008, co-organized by UNDP, UNESCAP, and UNICEF.
  
  
• Free online courses on PPPs (to appear soon): (a) Primer to public-private partnerships, (b) Financial perspectives, (c) legal perspectives, (d) Model concession agreements for highway projects.
  
  
• ECE conference on PPPs, hosted by the Russian Federation, Moscow, 6-7 October 2008.
  
  
• ESCAP Committee on Transport, 29-31 Oct. 2008
  
  
• National workshops on PPP-readiness assessment and PPP project development in 2008.
  
  
• The government of Indonesia offered to host the next Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on PPPs for Infrastructure Development in 2009.

Note: This Website is maintained by the Transport and Tourism Division of UNESCAP.