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If consumers are to benefit from private sector participation in infrastructure, commitments to investors in infrastructure are to be protected, and the economy as a whole is to benefit from these changes, then new regulators must be competent and fair. The development of skills required to meet these criteria will require specific training, including exposure to international experience and best practice. The Public-Private Partnership in Infrastructure (PPPI) program aims at addressing these training needs by covering the following areas:

PPP Institutional and Regulatory Issues

There are several institutions essential to a PPP program such as a risk management unit and a PPP unit. They differ from each other in terms of organization, function, and finances. In the case of the PPP unit, many of these units fall under a particular Ministry, while others are formed as autonomous governmental entities or as independent governmental think-tanks. On the functional level, many of the functions focus strictly on policymaking, whereas others combine multiple policy and transaction functions. Some of them lack clear coordination rules between local and central administration levels on their respective functions and responsibilities. Finally, some are financially independent, while some rely heavily on the government budget. Although they vary in formality and design, it is important for governments to establish sound regulatory policies that allow operators of infrastructure services to cover their costs and foster efficiency while taking into account equity issues. The PPPI program helps developing countries respond to these challenges by engaging with governments in the following:

• Institutional aspects: structuring and setting up of regulatory agencies and regulatory processes….
  
• Regulatory instruments: economic and financial models, regulatory accounting, asset valuation, cost of capital, efficiency measurement…..
  

PPP Project Design and Implementation

Not all projects are suitable for PPPs, and governments should avoid the temptation to quickly “PPP their problems.” Best practice dictates that PPPs have to be scrutinized carefully in order to determine whether the private sector has the ability to bring substantial cost savings and deliver Value for Money (VfM). This is a critical challenge in most developing countries since newly-established PPP agencies are just beginning to build their capacity to design and implement viable PPP projects.

• PPP Project Design: project selection and prioritization techniques, efficiency gain (or VFM test), fiscal space relief, project finance…..
  
• Project Implementation: measures for corruption-free PPP procurement, techniques to achieve short and efficient negotiation process, renegotiation, refinancing, ex-post contract management, performance evaluation, exit issues…..