With the recent rapid growing interest in procuring infrastructure and public services through PPP, the timely one-day conference attracted over 400 delegates gathered together at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre.

The organisers had assembled a team of 21 overseas and local eminent and expert speakers including engineering, legal and banking professionals, senior government officials, legislator and researchers

In the first session, the speakers presented the general overviews on PPP and the public sector's perspectives in Australia, the UK, Brazil and Hong Kong. Some failure cases in the UK and Australia were also examined and discussed in detail in terms of their implications to the public sectors. It was considered that building up a knowledgeable and dedicated team from the public sector was important.

The opportunities and challenges in the private sector's perspective were discussed in the second session. Using PPP for raising capital from the private sector was regarded as providing more opportunities for the public sector and infrastructure development. However, some investments in PPP could be regarded as gold digging in partially cleared minefields, for instance, when bidding costs is substantial for the private sector. The appropriate risk allocation needs special attention in any case.

In the third session, PPP experiences and prospects were reviewed in terms of infrastructure development. The different aspects of PPP approaches to transport infrastructure developments in Hong Kong, with cases dating back to the first cross harbour tunnel in 1969 and the recent road maintenance works term contracts were discussed. The UK speakers shared their successful experiences in delivering rail projects using PPP and presented arrangements for risk-sharing in the provision of water and wastewater services.

In the last session on the Best Way Forward, the various opportunities, obstacles and success factors in the adoption of PPP including implementation and contract administration were discussed.