Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)A Public-Private Partnership occurs when the public and private sectors combine to design, build, finance, operate and maintain a transit network over the life of the project. The challenge of public transit is to find new ways to meet a growing demand for capital-intensive services at a time when funding for infrastructure is limited. Even with record spending on transit projects, the demand continues to outstrip available resources, giving rise to new approaches. Private-Public Partnerships, or PPPs as they are commonly referred, have only recently been introduced to transit projects as a unique means of developing large scale, heavily capitalized projects. Denver’s FastTracks project and Houston’s Light Rail are recent North American examples of PPP transit projects. While PPPs take on many different structures, most common is the creation of a Special Purpose Corporation consisting of a partnership of private entities, each bringing to the project a special set of resources. Engineering firms, construction firms, financial institutions and service providers combine to create a single entity in response to the public authorities request for services. Project planning, oversight and portions of the financing are typical roles of the public authority. Veolia Transportation has been a major participant in PPP projects throughout the world. In Rouen, France for example, Veolia Transportation joined with the local authority to build and operate a light rail and BRT system under a thirty-year agreement. The entire project was managed, financed, constructed and operated under a single entity. In North America, PPPs offer a unique means by which to tap the financial resources, skill sets, speed and efficiency of the private sector, bringing large projects to fruition on-time with better value. |
