Public-Private Partnerships

Building modern, sustainable, and reliable infrastructure is critical for meeting the rising aspirations of billions of people around the globe—and for addressing the climate change challenge. Infrastructure investment helps raise economic growth rates, offers new economic opportunities, and facilitates investment in human capital. 

The numbers are stark: about 800 million people live without electricity; 2.2 billion people lack safely managed drinking water service. Congested and inadequate ports, airports, and roadways are a drag on growth and trade.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) can be a tool to get more quality infrastructure services to more people. When designed well and implemented in a balanced regulatory environment, PPPs can bring greater efficiency and sustainability to the provision of public services such as energy, transport, telecommunications, water, healthcare, and education. PPPs can also allow for better allocation of risk between public and private entities.

Yet, much work is needed to make projects "investor-ready" and to develop innovative frameworks to leverage private investment. The World Bank Group is committed to helping governments make informed decisions about improving access and quality of infrastructure services, including—where appropriate—using PPPs as one delivery option. This approach is further enabled by working on supporting strong institutions, strengthening data, building capacity, developing and testing tools, promoting transparency, and encouraging engagement with all relevant stakeholders. Learn more here.

Last Updated: Aug 22, 2022

By providing a wide range of expertise, data, tools, and services, the Bank Group contributes to getting PPPs right—when this modality is appropriate within a country’s context.

We offer upstream policy advice for regulatory and institutional reforms to downstream transaction support, including a multibillion-dollar lending, investment, and guarantee portfolio along with analytical and advisory activities and the ability to convene partners. 

Multilateral Development Banks around the world are actively collaborating, both in terms of direct financing of projects, mobilizing private capital, and improving capacities and knowledge around infrastructure to reduce transaction costs and strengthen the pipeline of bankable projects.

A task force has been set up to harmonize definitions and targets around MDB mobilization. Platforms have been established such as the Global Infrastructure Facility, which helps prepare and structure complex infrastructure projects so they are able to attract commercial and institutional investment.

Our collaboration goes beyond financing. We’ve jointly developed the PPP Knowledge Lab and run the preeminent, multilingual  PPP certification that addresses in-country capacity constraints. We are also working together to establish infrastructure tools and new standards of disclosure and transparency that will ultimately reduce risk perceptions from private investors and give voice to stakeholders. 

With attention to fiscal risk strong and growing, financing infrastructure—with its high price tags—is under the microscope. The World Bank has its eye closely on the sustainability of financing, offering a self-paced course that seeks to equip professionals who work on PPPs with essential skills in assessing fiscal implications and managing related fiscal risks. The Public Fiscal Risk Assessment Model (PFRAM), developed jointly with the IMF, is an analytical tool that helps governments assess fiscal costs and risks arising from PPPs. 

Last Updated: Aug 22, 2022

Below are some examples of the World Bank Group’s support to PPPs that increase access to infrastructure services, benefit the governments’ bottom lines, and accrue further development benefits.

Lighting Up Streets- Brazil

More than 5,000 municipalities in Brazil rely on outdated, inefficient, high-pressure sodium and mercury vapor lamps for lighting streets.  When combined with “smart” management and control systems, LED technology for public street lighting can deliver energy savings of up to 80 percent. However, many municipalities struggle to access financing to upgrade their streetlights.

In partnership with the World Bank Group, the Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) supported CAIXA, one of Brazil’s public banks, to structure and procure a set of public street lighting modernization PPPs in 10 Brazilian municipalities.

As of 2022, five municipalities had started using the LED technology. Ten upcoming pilot transactions will reduce emissions by about 21,563 tons of CO2 per year and provide a model for a future program of investments, expected to increase reductions up to an annual total of 565,556 tons. This will contribute to one-fifth of Brazil’s Paris Agreement target to improve energy efficiency in electricity by 10 percent by 2030.

Supporting West Africa’s first PPP Framework- ECOWAS

Governments in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) - Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo - are looking for a regional solution to infrastructure development.

ECOWAS’ regional infrastructure masterplan comprises 201 projects in connectivity, digital development, energy (including renewable energy), and transport from 2020 to 2045 with an estimated investment requirement of $122 billion. With Public - Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) support, ECOWAS successfully developed a comprehensive PPP framework. This is a critical step towards establishing a conducive and investor-friendly environment and closing a substantial regional infrastructure gap estimated to be between $20 billion and $36 billion annually.

The Parliament approved resolutions on regional PPPs and associated guidelines in December 2021. Once in place, the new regional framework will facilitate delivering regional infrastructure and public services in the ECOWAS region. 

Improving Urban Mobility in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire 

With the support of the World Bank and the Global Infrastructure Facility, the government of Côte d’Ivoire is building a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system aligned with the country’s 2016-2020 National Development Plan and Greater Abidjan Urban Master Plan.

The BRT is part of the World Bank’s broader $400 million Greater Abidjan Port City Integration project, one of the largest public transport PPPs in Côte d’Ivoire and among the first BRT systems in West Africa. It is expected to mobilize $130 million from the private sector.

The 20-kilometer BRT will transform the public transport system along the Yopougon-Bingerville corridor and its feeder lines in Abidjan. It will reduce travel time and increase access to jobs from low-income, outlying areas into the Abidjan city-center, with an estimated 600,000 additional jobs becoming more accessible. The BRT system will also encourage safe and equitable access and promote employment opportunities for women in its operations. Importantly, it will use climate-friendly technology.

Boosting PPPs - Pakistan

The World Bank is collaborating with Pakistan’s PPP Authority (P3A) to advance private sector investment. With PPIAF support, three projects have been selected by the P3A for accelerated development: training on PPP pipeline screening, fiscal commitment and contingency frameworks, and climate considerations to build the capacity of the P3A. A follow-up activity is being planned, in partnership with the Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF), to further develop the multi-window financing vehicle, expand the PPP pipeline to include social infrastructure projects, and provide additional capacity building support.

Last Updated: Sep 12, 2022