Project Case Study
Offering public-private partnership assistance for India’s roads
Providing technical assistance to refinance India's infrastructure development projects
India’s infrastructure network, whilst very extensive, requires modernisation and repair to the parts of it which are in poor condition and often dangerous. However, there was little available financing for this.
Public-private partnerships were chosen as a policy solution. These allow governments to develop infrastructure which they would not otherwise have been able to finance, manage, or maintain. Public-private partnerships spread the tasks, obligations and risks among the public and private partners such that the risks and costs are minimised and the quality of the infrastructure and the services provided is improved. It is a particularly important tool for developing countries, where tax receipts may be low, resulting in large infrastructure finance deficits.
In 2004 the World Bank asked us to advise the new Government of Chhattisgarh in establishing the foundation for successful public-private partnerships projects. After setting up the institutional, regulatory and legal framework for implementing the financing system in roads, we were able to screen and select opportunities in the road sector. Working with the state government to identify appropriate methods for public-private partnerships in Chhattisgarh, we created standardised bidding documents for different models, which we then implemented in the previously identified projects.
In addition to recommending new processes, we also built capacity within local offices, enabling employees to structure, deliver and monitor public-private partnerships projects. This came in the form of study tours to the UK and South Africa, and on the job training.
We successfully created a platform for the state Government of Chhattisgarh to attract investment and service providers to their road sector.
