What is a PPP?
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.