The ACT Government has released a report detailing many benefits delivered by the Canberra Light Rail project. But whether the project is on track to deliver the benefits forecast in the business case remains a mystery.

Summary of interview with Stanford University’s Carter Cassidy on the findings of his academic research into the performance of PPPs around the globe.

Owen Hayford was interviewed by The Australian Financial Review for this feature article on PPPs

Infralegal was recently asked to share its insights on the state of the Australian PPP market with an international project finance publication. Here is an edited version of our responses to their questions.

This paper and presentation consider the reasons why government interest in PPPs is waning and what governments and equity investors can do the reinvigorate the use of private capital to deliver public infrastructure. Two new PPP models are presented: the Collaborative PPP and the Partnership-led PPP.

Owen Hayford was recently invited to deliver a presentation at the University of Technology Sydney on risk allocation and PPPs. You can access Owen’s presentation via this blog

There are significant opportunities to improve dispute resolution processes on PPP projects

There is broad consensus that the PPP model is serving Australia and NZ well, but many areas for potential improvement remain, including…

How to create a PPP contract using the NEC4 suite

There seems to be a growing consensus that project owners are transferring too much risk to their supply chain, and that whilst project owners may achieve a cheap price for this risk transfer at the time of contract award, the longer-term outcomes are sub-optimal for all concerned, including owners.

This article considers some new risk sharing models for privately financed projects.

The term “Public Private Partnership” is a bit of a misnomer. Under Australian law, a partnership arises when two or more people agree to carry on a business in common, with a view to profit. Each partner shares in the risks and rewards of the business, is entitled to a share of the net profits of the business, and is jointly and severally liable for the liabilities and obligations of the business. Australian PPPs don’t actually embody any of these key features of a true partnership.

Sydney’s Central Precinct Renewal project provides the NSW Government with an opportunity to develop Public Private Partnership (PPP) structures that are more akin to true partnerships involving the sharing, rather than allocation, of risks and rewards. Partnerships that would enable the NSW Government to not only harness the expertise of the private sector in the development of business opportunities associated with these projects, but also share in the rewards associated with them.

Can a privately finance PPP be combined with an alliance style risk allocation?

Below are some suggestions on how the NSW Government could adjust its PPP policy and pro-forma PPP contract to give affect to the aspirations of its 10 Point Plan for the construction industry.