Innovative public-private partnerships in road maintenance and management A contractor's perspective

摘要

Partnerships between public authorities and private enterprises aiming at building and operating public works are not a new phenomenon. However, they have gained renewed attention since tensions appeared in the 90s in the public budgets of industrialized countries, which even contributed to the emergence of new partnership forms. In the road sector, innovative contracts have been promoted beyond sheer road construction, with a view to maintaining and managing urban and peri-urban road networks. In all cases, these contracts aim at an improved level of service for road users and at better value for money, by combining the competences of the private sector and of the public authorities. Indeed, for road users as well as for taxpayers, only the results count, in terms of mobility and safety, no matter what procurement method is used. These contracts are generally based on performance requirements rather than recipe-based prescriptions. They differ in their financial structures as well as in country-specific legal frameworks. They show however similarities in performance measurement. This article presents the viewpoint of Colas contractor based on examples from its ten-year experience with maintenance of urban and peri-urban road networks in various countries: 1 In England, Managing Agent Contracts (MAC) with the « Highways Agency », as well as an urban PFI (Private Finance Initiative) contract; 2 In Canada, a rehabilitation and maintenance contract at Saint-Louis de France (Quebec), as well as CMA (Contract Maintenance Area) contracts in Alberta; 3 In Denmark, pavement maintenance contracts with municipalities. In all cases, these partnerships have reached the following objectives: 4 Fostering innovation by adopting a lifetime perspective; 5 Better risk management through better risk identification and sharing; 6 Improved efficiency through combination of competences between public and private sector and a «win/win» approach rather than the traditional « client/supplier» approach; 7 and finally, improved level of service, as attested by satisfaction inquiries of residents and road users, while achieving better value for money.