Module 01: Starting Out

1.1 Why public-private partnerships?

It is becoming increasingly clear that governments cannot meet the continually growing demand for services by acting alone, and that there is a need to look for support from other sectors of society.

The public-private partnership (PPP) is one of the most promising forms of such collaboration. It is based on the recognition that both the public and private sectors can benefit by pooling their financial resources, know-how and expertise to improve the delivery of basic services to all citizens. In addition, PPPs offer an alternative to full privatisation by combining the advantages of both sectors; that is they combine the:

◊ social responsibility, environmental awareness and public accountability of the public sector;
with the

◊ finance, technology, managerial efficiency and entrepreneurial spirit of the private sector.

In this toolkit the term “public-private partnership” (PPP) is used to describe a spectrum [Tool 11-1] of possible relationships between the government (the public sector) and other organisations that are not government (the private sector) to carry out a project or provide a service. The community has a direct role to play in such an arrangement as a beneficiary, expressing the price the community would pay for an acceptable level of service, and an indirect role to play in shaping policy for the urban environment. In a small PPP, the community may be able to take the role of the private partner.

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