Public private partnerships in transportation: Some insights from the European experience

Most EU member states and the European Commission regard the PPP as an important tool to attract additional financial resources for high priority investments such as transport. The objective of this paper is to delineate the EU panorama of PPP markets and investigate the impacts of EU institutions in the development and success of this type of financial arrangement for the transport sector in Europe. We examine how the scope of the PPP in Europe is based on the flexibility and adaptability of the contract to the features of the project and to the economic and institutional environment. These issues are illustrated through a number of examples in the transport sector. We conclude by observing that the market for PPPs, although still fragmented nationally, is developing a European dimension and attracting resources from a variety of players.