theinstitutionalchallengesforpppinchinaandtheroleof.docVIP

The institutional challenges for PPP in China and the role of PPIAF Cheng Chen, School of Government, Sun Yat-sen University, China Paper prepared for the World Bank Post-doctoral Workshop, 2010 [second draft] Introduction There is no consistent definition of Public-Private Partnerships (hereafter PPP), due to the variety of different PPP forms in different countries and the varying meanings of the word ‘partnerships’ (Wettenhall, 2003). Here according to the definition from the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (hereafter PPIAF), PPP is the cooperation between the public sector and the private sector in aspects of the provision of infrastructural assets or new or existing infrastructural services that have traditionally been provided by the government. In the course of the last two decades, there has been an enormous expansion of PPP in worldwide experience, particularly in developing countries. PPIAF, launched in 1999, is a multi-donor technical assistance facility that helps developing countries use public-private partnerships to improve the quality of their infrastructure and thereby reduce poverty. PPIAF has played an important role in facilitating the enabling environment for PPP in the developing world. Therefore, it is worth reviewing the activities of PPIAF throughout the 10 years. This paper also examines the institutional challenges for PPP in China. Similar to many other developing countries, China encounters institutional problems particularly in the legal and political aspects. The understanding of these obstacles for PPP development has strong implications for PPIAF’s activities and the achievements of its missions. This paper has three sections. The first section reviews the trend of PPP development in the developing world. The second section examines the role PPIAF played in promoting PPP in developing countries, through documentary reviews of annual reports and relevant working papers. The third section discusses the obstacles to