Public Private Partnerships In The Caribbean Region

To provide policymakers in the Caribbean with a governance framework for improving infrastructure through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), while limiting their fiscal costs and risks for the government. And to showcase Canada support to FAD technical assistance in the region and FAD collaboration with CARTAC and the Caribbean Development Bank

This report presents the Caribbean Infrastructure PPP Roadmap by describing why and how PPPs can add value through the lessons learned from 11 countries. It reviews emerging PPP opportunities based on experience within the region to identify possible constraints and sets out concrete actions that Caribbean governments can take—individually, and collectively—to build successful PPP projects and programs.

Investment in infrastructure is, admittedly, one of the main forms of economic development. Traditionally, the Public Administration implements infrastructure projects committing taxpayers’ money to finance them. For the past decades, demand for infrastructure has been growing steadily, but public funds for current and future needs are limited and the public finances of many governments have increasingly reached a point where long-term borrowing is not a ready option. In a recent study, GI Hub estimated the cumulative ‘global infrastructure need’ from 2015 to 2040, and the ‘investment gap’ for the period. US$ 94 trillion would be needed in investment and the gap is US$ 15 trillion . This has led the government to accept the growing importance of the private sector participation in the financing and management of infrastructure projects, so it began seeking alternative methods of procurement. One method whose applicability is increasing is the use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) to finance and/or manage infrastructure projects. In this regard, well-prepared infrastructure projects can generate high social rate of returns and improves well-being, whereas inadequate infrastructure represents a barrier to growth and improved quality of life and can lead to unsustainable financial burdens for the government, especially in developing countries. Although not all infrastructure is suitable to follow the PPP route, those policy-makers that choose to shift from public infrastructure financing to private partner have to consider the nature and motivations of long-term investors and the generation of value for money as well, that is, to align the interests of both the public and private sectors. With the participation of a private partner in well-prepared investment projects, there may be larger investments and the population’s life quality improvement. Also, PPPs are a way to introduce private sector technology and innovation into providing better public services through innovative planning and design’ and ‘efficient project management. Building and maintaining infrastructure are essential for economic expansion and social development, if delivered efficiently and effectively, it can translate into economic growth. However, the world is not spending enough on infrastructure to catch up with technological changes, urbanization and shifting demographics. The Inter-American Bank (IDB) and the Global Infrastructure Hub (GIH) decided to analyze and carry out a research on the legal framework for PPPs in Latin America and the Caribbean Region to establish guidelines on PPP law leading practices.

The Economic Development Institute (EDI), in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Inter-American Foundation, launched the Partnerships for Poverty Reduction program in six countries in Latin America and the Caribbean—as part of the Bank's Mission "to fight poverty with passion and professionalism for lasting results." The program sought to promote the adoption of an approach to poverty reduction that relies on partnerships among local, regional, and central governments, other public sector agencies, nongovernmental organizations, private sector companies and other civic organizations. This publication is a result of these collaborative efforts. It contains a powerful message about partnerships with the state, civil society and business: these partnerships have the potential of becoming the basis of an approach to poverty reduction that replaces old and failed paradigms in the region.

May 1996 The public sector's performance in the Caribbean varies, in reducing poverty and in creating an enabling environment for growth. Barbados and the Bahamas have been the high performers, Guyana and the Dominican Republic have been sluggish, and the other Caribbean countries fall in between. In the Caribbean region, the public sector is now the predominant provider of tertiary education and health services (university education and hospital-based curative care), which mainly benefit the nonpoor. Attempts must be made to recover costs from high-income users and use that revenue to improve the quality and quantity (as appropriate) of basic services. Lessons from experience suggest that most Caribbean countries need to encourage the private sector to participate more in providing infrastructure and need to provide a better regulatory framework. The good news: this is already taking place in many countries.

Inadequate infrastructure has been widely viewed as a principal barrier to growth and development in Latin America and the Caribbean. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of infrastructure in the region and highlights key areas in which infrastructure networks can be enhanced. The public and private sectors play complementary roles in improving the infrastructure network. Therefore, it is critical to strengthen public investment management processes as well as the regulatory framework, including to ensure an appropriate mix of financing and funding for projects and to address environmental concerns.

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) does not have the infrastructure it needs, or deserves, given its income. Many argue that the solution is to spend more; by contrast, this report has one main message: Latin America can dramatically narrow its infrastructure service gap by spending efficiently on the right things. This report asks three questions: what should LAC countries’ goals be? How can these goals be achieved as cost-effectively as possible? And who should pay to reach these goals? In doing so, we drop the ‘infrastructure gap’ notion, favoring an approach built on identifying the ‘service gap’. Benchmarking Latin America in this way reveals clear strengths and weaknesses. Access to water and electricity is good, with the potential for the region’s electricity sector to drive competitive advantage; by contrast, transport and sanitation should be key focus areas for further development. The report also identifies and analyses some of the emerging challenges for the region—climate change, increased demand and urbanization—that will put increasing pressure on infrastructure and policy makers alike. Improving the region’s infrastructure performance in the context of tight fiscal space will require spending better on well identified priorities. Unlike most infrastructure diagnostics, this report argues that much of what is needed lies outside the infrastructure sector †“ in the form of broader government issues—from competition policy, to budgeting rules that no longer solely focus on controlling cash expenditures. We also find that traditional recommendations continue to apply regarding independent, well-performing regulators and better corporate governance, and highlight the critical importance of cost recovery where feasible and desirable, as the basis for future commercial finance of infrastructure services. Latin America has the means and potential to do better; and it can do so by spending more efficiently on the right things.

The public sector's performance in the Caribbean varies, in reducing poverty and in creating an enabling environment for growth. Barbados and the Bahamas have been the high performers, Guyana and the Dominican Republic have been sluggish, and the other Caribbean countries fall in between. In the Caribbean region, the public sector is now the predominant provider of tertiary education and health services (university education and hospital-based curative care), which mainly benefit the nonpoor. Attempts must be made to recover costs from high-income users and use that revenue to improve the quality and quantity (as appropriate) of basic services. Lessons from experience suggest that most Caribbean countries need to encourage the private sector to participate more in providing infrastructure and need to provide a better regulatory framework. The good news: This is already taking place in many countries.