The allocation of risks between government and the private party will depend on the type of public private partnership structure being implemented. For instance, with a privately financed public private partnership project, risks related to asset ownership would be allocated to the private party, whereas with a project under the design, build and operate model, the same risk would remain with the government. Regardless of which public private partnership structure is being implemented, government must focus on:
• articulating the policy objectives it wishes to achieve through the partnership
• identifying the service it is seeking from the private party and specifying the outputs of that service, rather than the inputs
• structuring and calibrating the most suitable payment mechanism for the provision of the private party's service/output specifications, as identified above, in accordance with government objectives for the project
• establishing mechanisms and processes to ensure the government can fulfil its obligations over the concession period.