Governments in Canada should strongly consider partnerships between the public and private sectors when dealing with improving transportation infrastructure, according to a Fraser Institute report released this morning.
Public-private partnerships (P3s) will lead to timely and high-quality results when it comes to improving Canada’s roads, railways, bridges and other forms of public transportation, the report states.
In the conventional process, governments direct the project during all stages, including designing, building, financing, operating and maintaining the infrastructure. In a P3 process, a private-sector organization would be responsible for two or more of the tasks.
“Canadian and international evidence shows that P3s tend to be built on time and on budget, and they typically outperform conventional infrastructure projects,” said associate director and report co-author Charles Lammam.
“P3s also provide greater value for money and opportunities for innovation, allowing Canadians to benefit from higher quality infrastructure and often at a reduced cost to taxpayers.”
Lammam notes that P3s are not a form of privatization.
“The public sector sets the project goals and retains ownership, while the role of the private sector is to meet the government's quantity and quality requirements-things like highway safety or traffic flow,” he said.
