Infrastructure Public‐Private Partnerships: “Partnerships” Come to Fruition

Abstract

P3s are generally structured as long‐term leases of municipal assets like toll roads, ports, and airports by private investors/operators. Five years ago, municipalities viewed such partnerships primarily as a means of raising capital, and they often viewed maximizing the up‐front proceeds as the primary goal of the transactions.Today's P3s have been re‐defined to focus beyond the bottom line and toward the goal of developing sustainable long‐term partnerships between the public and private sectors. As three transactions from the past year are used to demonstrate, the P3 has emerged as a way for governments to achieve sustainable reinvestment in needed infrastructure while also using the best practices of the private sector to increase the efficiency of and revenue from their asset operations.