Public-private partnership

A public-private partnership is a contract between the public sector, or government, and a private company. The purpose for such public-private partnerships is to provide public services, like education and transportation. This is without changing the private business into a government-operated service. One way of doing this is to allow the government to pay the business for providing free services to the public. The business provides the services for free and then charges the government for compensation, in which the government agrees. Supporters of public-private partnerships argue that it reduces inefficiency and provides the free market with greater flexibility.

Public-private Partnership Media

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  Public–private partnerships are often represented by a handshake, symbolizing the private and public partners coming to an agreement.

• Gavin Newsom hosts employers about public-private partnerships - 2019-11-13.jpg

  Gavin Newsom hosts a meeting for employers about public-private partnerships. (13 November 2019)

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  Protest in France against encroaching privatization and the introduction of profit-seeking practices in the public sector. (22 March 2018)

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  Second Toll Gate on Yonge Street in 1886

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  During his first term in office, Tony Blair made public-private partnerships the norm for government procurement projects in the United Kingdom.

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  One year after the completion of the Mario Cuomo Bridge PPP, dozens of bolts holding its steel girders together had already failed. A whistleblower claims that the SPV responsible for its construction had knowingly delivered many defective high-strength bolts, and taken measures to hide evidence of the defects.

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  A discredited 2001 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted that building the Abbotsford Regional Hospital & Cancer Centre (pictured) through a PPP would lead to cost savings of 1% at best. This option was selected, and then the projected construction costs increased by 68% over the course of PPP contract negotiations that lasted two years.

• The Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia delivering the Keynote Address at the inauguration of the conference on Public Private Partnership in transmission of electricity, in New Delhi.jpg

  The Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia delivering the Keynote Address at the inauguration of the conference on Public Private Partnership in transmission of electricity, in New Delhi. (2010)

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  The maintenance of the new National Physical Laboratory building was transferred back to the British Department of Trade and Industry in 2004 after the private sector partners involved in the PFI contract made losses of over £100m.

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  Sign at the entrance of the Regina Wastewater Treatment Plant