Public-Private Partnerships for Infrastructure in China - PPPI Series 2009 (Event 2)

The seminar on "Public Private Partnerships for Infrastructure", held 23-25 June 2009 in Qingdao, PRC, was the second event of the 2009 ADBI PPPI Knowledge Sharing and Capacity Building Series. The seminar was hosted by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and organized in collaboration with the World Bank Institute (WBI) as part of the Multilateral PPP for Infrastructure Capacity Building Initiative (MP3IC), which ADBI and WBI are implementing together with the Multilateral Investment Fund – Inter American Development Bank (MIF–IADB).

The seminar, designed for mid- to senior-level government officials from key national, provincial and local administration infrastructure agencies from across China responsible for PPP and/or infrastructure policy, programs and projects, was well attended. In total, almost 80 PPP policymakers, program managers and specialists from representative national and sub-national agencies were brought together with Chinese PPP specialists and PPP experts from across Asia and around the globe.

The three-day seminar was opened with welcome remarks by Mr. Du Ping, Director General at NDRC Training Center, Mr. Philip Karp, Regional Coordinator at WBI, and Ms. Elaine Glennie, Senior Capacity Building Specialist at ADBI. Dr. Yang Ping, Professor and Division Director of the Investment Institute at NDRC, delivered the keynote speech and presentation entitled "Reform in China's Investment System" and provided an in-depth perspective of how infrastructure financing in China has evolved and impacted major policy reforms.

With the China PPPI context and experience as the point of focus, the seminar program examined the importance of PPPs for infrastructure development in China, the important PPP experiences and lessons learned in China to date, and global PPP approaches and practices relevant for the China context. (See Program)

Day 1 sessions detailed the fundamentals of PPPs for infrastructure and profiled global approaches and best practices for setting up PPP units and establishing PPPI institutional frameworks, as well as the evolution of PPPs for infrastructure in China and the main lessons learned from the PPP experience to date in China. Day 2 sessions examined risk management of PPP projects and the legislative framework which has been established for PPP's and project finance opportunities following the global financial crisis, and walked through comparative global approaches to evaluating value for money and managing diverse PPP risks. Day 3 sessions focused on global approaches to PPP procurement and performance management, and profiled PPP case studies from the water and urban transport sectors in China.

Delegates from China much appreciated the pragmatic and substantive program, and opportunities for knowledge sharing on China and other country PPP approaches provided by the seminar. However, they emphasized a need for considerable support and advisory assistance for further development and strengthening of PPP frameworks in their respective countries, as well as pragmatic PPP capacity building for public sector officials and transaction support for developing replicable PPP projects across different sectors. The MP3IC global PPP learning products that were pilot-tested at the seminar were very well received and will be developed further for incorporation in the MP3IC global learning program.