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.
This FAL Bulletin is part of the reflections on infrastructure and connectivity that have been frequently addressed in documents of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). It contributes to the reflections under the project “Transport and Trade Connectivity in the Age of Pandemics: Contactless, Seamless and Collaborative UN Solutions”. This edition analyzes the possibility of implementing a ferry network in the Eastern Caribbean region through Public Private Partnerships (PPP's) to promote better and more fluid connectivity.This document was prepared by Diogo Aita, Associate Economic Affairs Officer of the Infrastructure Services Unit in the International Trade and Integration Division of ECLAC, based on the Project Document “Evaluación preliminar técnica, económica e institucional para la implementación de un servicio de ferris en el Caribe Oriental”, prepared by Eduardo Lugo, Alberto Undurraga, Ricardo J. Sánchez, and Jorge A. Lupano. This original study was developed within the framework of a technical assistance provided to the Association of Caribbean States (AEC-ACS).
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 Caribbeanas 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.
Financing public infrastructure is an important challenge in the growth agenda of the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region. Subject to fiscal constraints, many countries in the LAC region have been looking at private sector financing as an alternative for financing public investment. With different degrees of success, countries in the region have been using Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) since the late 1980s. Although the needs of investments in public infrastructure vary by country and by sector, it is clear that public resources might not be enough. While public infrastructure will continue to be largely financed by the public sector in the LAC region, significant room still exist for private sector financing of public infrastructure. In Advanced Economies (AEs), such as Australia, and the United Kingdom, PPP projects account for 10 to 15 percent of overall infrastructure investments. This report analyzes the challenges and policy options to increase private sector financing in public infrastructure in the LAC region through PPPs. Given the diversity of LAC countries, the report takes a conceptual approach and analyzes the different alternatives of private sector financing of public investments that different groups of countries can utilize. This approach also takes stock of the different status and degree of institutional and financial development in LAC countries in light of ongoing promising legal reforms and financial innovations for infrastructure finance in the LAC region, as well as in AEs and other regions.
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.
The main purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze the contributions that public-private partnerships and public policy have made in the development of tourism in the Caribbean as tools for enhancing competitiveness in the Caribbean tourism industry. The paper explores these contributions mainly in the context of the upgrading strategies that Caribbean countries have pursued over the past 15 years or so and using the lens of the tourism value chain and tourism cluster approach. The paper also analyzes the potential roles that public-private partnerships and public policy will continue to play in the future especially in the process of building linkages between the tourism sector and other sectors in order to increase net benefits from tourism to the Region.This paper is divided into five sections. In Section I, we define public-private partnerships (PPP) and describe the areas in tourism where PPP are most widely used, the tools used to implement PPP in tourism and the various forms of PPP. Economic arguments are then laid to motivate PPP as a determinant of tourism competitiveness using the tourism value-chain and tourism cluster approach. Specific case examples illustrating the contributions of PPP and public policy towards increasing tourism competitiveness are provided at a regional level and for specific areas in Sections II and III respectively. Section IV summarizes findings from the previous two sections and discusses ways to enhance the effectiveness of PPP and public policy in Caribbean tourism for increased competitiveness. Section V analyzes a few of the challenges that the Caribbean tourism sector is facing. The final section proposes new areas of intervention for PPP and public policy as tools for enhancing competitiveness in the Caribbean tourism sector in order to assist the region in addressing these challenges.
