Classification of ADB Assistance for Public-Private Partnerships in Infrastructure Development (1998-2010)

Of these, PPP arrangements materialized for 15 public sector and 36 private sector projects. For public sector projects, the biggest share of ADB assistance went to the transport sector. The energy sector received most of the ADB assistance for private sector projects. South Asia was the majority recipient of ADB assistance for PPP both in public and private sector operations.

The study found that while there was intent to pursue PPPs, actual implementation for investment-related components was hindered by several issues. Many of these issues occurred during project preparation and the early stages of implementation, and included:

• feasibility of attracting nongovernment investment funds and availability of financing schemes and methods;
• availability of interested private sector partners;
• existence of clear national, regional, and local government policies and laws supporting PPPs;
• capacity or commitment of the executing agencies on complying with contractual and documentary requirements; and
• institutional and financial capacity of the executing agencies to develop, analyze, and prepare bankable projects (footnote 2).

The study also found that there was little information to show that support for noninvestment components increased the likelihood of the realization of intended PPP modalities.

The purpose of this review is twofold. First, it aims to update the 1998-2008 PPP database for programs, projects, and TA approvals with PPP content for 2009-2010. The approach and methodological framework of the previous study has been adopted. The review's second objective is to classify ADB assistance for PPPs from 1998 to 2010 based on the four pillars of the ADB PPP operational plan:

• advocacy and capacity development;
• enabling environment;
• project development; and
• project financing.

The regional technical assistance (TA) project, Knowledge Sharing on Infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships in Asia, of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) supports the strengthening of institutional and professional capacity of developing member countries in public-private partnership (PPP) frameworks and best practices.