Description

Introduction

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) can play a strong role in mobilizing private sector capital and expertise for costly infrastructure investments, and have become significantly more important in Asia and the Pacific. Indeed, in its long-term strategic framework, Strategy 2020, ADB calls for its infrastructure operations to emphasize PPPs and for private sector development and related operations to account for 50% of operations by 2020.
 
This special evaluation study assesses ADB support for the development of PPPs in the infrastructure sectors. PPPs for the purpose of this study include all modalities that assume some form of risk sharing between public and private entities.
 
Overall, the study found ADB support in this area successful. But despite ADB assistance for a number of successful PPP transactions, it had not substantially increased PPP activity overall in the region. There are several reasons for this, including deficiencies in some countries’ overall investment environments, a lack of institutional capacity in many countries, and the long time needed for implementing underlying infrastructure and public sector reforms.
 
Among the study’s many findings: ADB needs to make a stronger connection between PPP support and other ADB sector operations to operationalize Strategy 2020 goals; it needs to provide better assistance for project development, new PPP modalities, and related capacity development; and it needs to encourage greater PPP involvement in the transport and water sectors. 

Contents

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• ADB Strategies and Assistance Programs for Public-Private Partnerships in Infrastructure Development
• Evaluation of ADB Assistance for PPP
• Lessons, Issues, and Recommendations
• Appendixes
• Supplementary Appendixes