Preferred risk allocation in Egypt’s water sector PPPs

Abstract

As Egypt suffers from water scarcity and limited public funds, increasing investments in unconventional water supply projects through the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme is considered a necessity. Meanwhile, risk allocation is considered critical to the implementation and success of PPPs. This paper captures, presents and discusses the risk allocation preferences for domestic wastewater treatment and Seawater Desalination PPPs in Egypt. Face-to-face structured interviews were conducted with experienced practitioners and a preferred risk allocation scheme was developed using the ‘majority opinion’ approach. Results were compared to similar findings in China; a mature water sector PPP market. The research findings enable developing an efficient risk allocation framework for water sector PPPs in Egypt in the early stages of project development. The comparative study enables foreign investors to adjust their investment strategies by considering the similarities and differences in Egypt and China.