Infra Insight Blog

As part of Infrastructure Week, 2015, several interested organizations banded together for an afternoon meeting on Monday, May 11, that focused on public-private partnerships as a way out of the infrastructure crunch.  Projects, big and small, stand to benefit from engaging the private sector to solve an array of infrastructure challenges.  The event was hosted by the Pew Charitable Trusts, and moderated by Cleveland City Councilman Matt Zone, who is also the 2^nd Vice President of National League of Cities (NLC).  Art Smith, President of the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships (NCPPP) gave a primer on P3s, followed by perspectives from private equity investment, risk management professionals and engineering consultants, all of whom presented case studies on P3 successes.  Indiana State representative Ed Soliday presented the current state-level P3 legislative landscape, applauding the flexibility in Georgia’s most recent P3 statute and advising his fellow state-level legislators to allow the P3 market to give value to their constituents.

Attendees peppered the speakers with questions ranging from the prospects for federal level P3 legislation to the viability of local level P3s.  Co-hosts NCPPP, NLC and the National Conference of State Legislatures called the event a success.