Demystifying Issues Regarding Public Private Partnerships (PPP)

Public-private sector collaboration is an evolving concept which takes many forms around the world, and it is essentially an arrangement by which private entrepreneurs provide support for the provision of public infrastructure. This study explored the collaborative framework of the public-private partnership (PPP) as a change process, highlighted basic characteristics, benefits, key principles of PPPs and its success path; it also clarify the structure, process and delivery system of joint-venture (JV) PPPs and the concession PPPs; while also identifying categories of projects that can benefit from the use of the PPP. It revealed successful attempts by central governments in financing new infrastructure projects through private sector participation due to the paucity of funds while facilitating innovation in infrastructure development. Joint-ventures PPPs which involves the incorporation of a company where the public actor is both the regulator and a shareholder in the joint operating company; it also involves the sharing of the attendant revenues, benefits/loss, and costs but despite been of local value is described as the true PPP. Concession PPP, however, is of national value and involves the transfer of risks to parties most suitable in managing it but the project financing is the sole responsibility of the private actor.