The Infrastructure Association of Queensland has since its establishment, been championing the cause of infrastructure in this state. The private sector over time has developed a significant role in this space in recent years as more privately funded, built and operated projects have rolled out especially down the East Coast of Australia.
As a State, Queensland has moved more cautiously than others in adopting the PPP model of infrastructure procurement the South Bank TAFE Campus re-development being probably the most noteworthy to this point. There are other state sponsored PPP infrastructure projects namely, the South East Queensland Schools Project that is currently under consideration and the recently allocated Airport Link Project. The IAQ has been concerned about the effects that the world financial crisis may have on the appetite for PPP's and how the financial markets will view their continuing involvement in such procurement models.
It was obvious to the IAQ Management Committee that it was necessary to have a research paper prepared to investigate as quickly as possible what the effects of the world credit crisis would be on the PPP market and how this crisis would shape the type of project that the private sector could still have the confidence to support.
In conjunction with Dr Michael Regan Associate Professor of Infrastructure at Bond University's Mirvac School of Sustainable Development the IAQ commissioned this paper as a matter of urgency to try and establish a perspective on what the future may hold for PPP's in the short to medium term.
Clearly, the financial crisis is going to effect the industry adversely as it will most others however, the reader will note that there still remains an underlying vein of confidence in this procurement vehicle. There are still projects that will attract the private sector and there are emerging opportunities that may have the ability to bring more players into the field that, in the past, would not necessarily have been able to accommodate the risk profiles of some big-ticket projects. Time, of course will be the judge of this.
Our thanks go to Dr Regan and his team for preparing a quality document in a very tight time frame with great enthusiasm and good humour.
It is hoped that the material in this document is of help to our members, the government and the industry in general. The IAQ intends as the world situation continues to unfold, to provide updated information complimentary to this publication so that members can be informed as to how the market for PPP's is evolving.
Paul Clauson
Executive Director
Infrastructure Association
Of Queensland