The ESCAP secretariat has developed a number of training materials in the area of public-private partnerships for infrastructure development, especially on general, financial and/contractual/legal aspects of PPPs. Training materials available cover topics such as participatory approaches to project formulation and implementation; project planning and appraisal; risk identification assessment and management; PPP - a financial perspective; PPP - a legal perspective; project monitoring. A manual entitled "training the trainers: training fundamentals" has been also developed. This manual on training fundamentals is designed to assist instructors (trainers) from national training institutes and the transport industry to deliver the training material on freight forwarding, multimodal transport and logistics.
The above-mentioned training materials developed by ESCAP on general financial and contractual/legal aspects of PPPs have been transformed into suitable on-line training/distance learning materials. Three online training courses using these materials were conducted in 2009.
Facilities/platforms for Internet-based networking have been created enabling exchange of information and wider dissemination of resource and training materials. ESCAP has created a webpage on PPPs, where the resource and training materials developed by ESCAP and information on PPP activities have been made available.
A workshop and study visit on Developing Bankable PPP Projects for Infrastructure Development was organized at Vadodara and New Delhi, India on 24-30 November 2008. Officials and experts from ministries and government departments/agencies and PPP units from 13 member countries participated in this workshop and study visits. Two case studies prepared by the ESCAP secretariat in collaboration with the Asian Institute of Transport Development (AITD) in India have been used in workshops at Vadodara and Dhaka. They are: (1) PPP road project in India (Jaipur - Kishangarh road); and (2) PPP rail project in India (Pipavav railway). The programme included two visits: the first one to the Vadodara-Halol Toll Road and the second to see road development in Delhi region. Many roads in that region were implemented as PPP projects. The participants enhanced their capacity and shared practical experiences on different issues related to PPP project development, implementation, and management and operation. This workshop and study visit also provided participants with an opportunity to networking with peers in other countries, PPP units in governments and experts.