Public-private partnerships not always the answer: ADB

Frankfurt

PUBLIC-private partnership (PPP) schemes can play a useful role in helping to close the huge gap in the provision of infrastructure funding in Asia and beyond, but are not a panacea, said the president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday.

Takehiko Nakao, speaking at his closing press conference at the ADB's Frankfurt annual meeting, stressed: "We cannot use PPP for every project. That is why I also want to stress the importance of government revenue-collection efforts, so that governments can invest in (infrastructure projects such as) rural roads and primary schools and so on, using their own resources."

His comment came at the end of a meeting where the size of the Asian and global infrastructure gap came into sharp focus as officials wrestled with the problem of how to transform the billions of dollars available for infrastructur…