G20

A Blog by Motoko Aizawa, Institute for Human Rights and Business, and Nancy Alexander, Heinrich Boell Foundation-North America on the new Report: “In Search of Policy Coherence: Aligning OECD Infrastructure Advice with Sustainable Development”

Transparency is an important but easily overlooked agenda in the mix of challenges facing Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) that aim to tackle a range of development imperatives, such as provision of infrastructure and other critical social services. The World Bank recently published ‘A Framework for Disclosure in Public-Private Partnership Projects,’ a practical tool intended to help countries set up PPP disclosure frameworks, based on an earlier eleven-jurisdiction study. Here are five things beyond the World Bank’s recommendations that can help promote PPP transparency:

Model PPP contract provisions submitted to the G20 show preoccupation with the rights of private investors, often to the great prejudice of the very communities that are ostensibly the beneficiaries of the projects involved.

Hidden among the maze of more than 400 paragraphs of guidance, there are a number of points that, when viewed collectively, paint quite a disturbing picture, one that would substantially alter the way common citizens may think about infrastructure and their rights as citizens. 

While the world is already experiencing the biggest investment boom in human history, Leaders plan to boost economic growth through an explosion of megaprojects. This article examines the risks of megaprojects, including the question of whether they could privatize gain and socialize losses.