♦ Highway PPP arrangements, particularly in the most mature markets, are not exclusively financial transactions; rather, they are the selected project delivery strategy based on a value-for-money or feasibility analysis. In the majority of the countries visited, this perspective was either firmly held or gaining traction. In nearly all cases, the government determines that a PPP arrangement is the preferred method of delivery based on a systematic analysis and selection methodology.
♦ PPPs are a critically important and growing percentage of the national highway network. A moderate percentage of the overall highway and roadway networks are under PPP arrangements, but the PPP segments are typically critical components of the national or regional system for vehicular mobility.
♦ Highway PPP arrangements do not automatically require user fees. The scan team found that various sources of funds are used throughout the world- from exclusively real tolls to a combination of real tolls and shadow tolls to exclusively shadow tolls or direct-payment mechanisms (often principally availability based).
♦ The necessary public sector mindset and skills base for successful PPP programs and projects differ substantially from those needed for conventional practices. All of the public agencies visited emphasized the significance of these two points and indicated the importance of building public sector capacity in PPP program management.
♦ A reasonable balance among technical, commercial, and legal conditions and terms in a PPP contract is integral to its success. While all highway projects are engineering efforts, PPP projects are also long-term enterprises. A fundamental difference exists between prescribing a highway that an agency wants con- structed versus granting a private entity the right to operate an enterprise within the bounds of a contract. The latter demands establishing equilibrium between business and engineering aspects of a highway project.
♦ Public agencies recognize that a PPP arrangement is in fact a long-term partnership with the private sector founded on a contract. As such, the public sector's contract management team will be the one responsible for sustaining this relationship. Doing so may require understanding the spirit as well as the letter of a contract.