PhD student: Mrs T. Si

Promotors: Mrs Prof H.E.G.S. Schneider, Mrs Dr S.L.T. Schoenmaekers

Duration: 1/9/2016 - 31/8/2020

PhD defence: Maastricht, 30/1/2023

Abstract:

Public-private partnerships, abbreviation as PPPs, are arrangements in which the private sector participates in the supply of public works and services traditionally provided by the public sector (usually the government). In such partnerships, the public sector is usually responsible for performing sovereign functions, such as determining demand, public approval measures and procedures, organizing and ensuring competition in the market, and monitoring the private partner’s performance. The private sector generally provides most –if not all– of the project financing and assumes responsibility for the project’s operation. Using PPPs aims to combine the advantages of the public and private sectors in close partnerships to make project construction and operation more efficient; both sectors are expected to benefit from the partnerships. In recent decades, PPPs have been widely used to deliver infrastructure and public services in domestic and cross-border projects. However, due to the unfamiliar regulatory status of PPPs, PPP projects have a high risk of failing in practice. This thesis selects China and the EU to compare and analyze their regulation and implementation of PPPs. By exploring the similarities and differences, this thesis aims to provide a better understanding of PPPs in these two jurisdictions and provides a valuable reference to their future design of PPP regulations to realize the effective use of PPPs. The core research question that this thesis aims to answer is the following: What are the similarities and differences in how China and the EU regulate and implement PPPs to facilitate their effective use in infrastructure projects? The comparison is carried out from three aspects: the theoretical framework to regulate PPPs, the PPP regulatory framework, and PPP implementation.