Discussion of Closing the Infrastructure Finance Gap: Addressing Risk

Private-public partnerships (PPPs) are certainly in vogue. Schwartz, Ruiz-Nuñez and Chelsky base their paper on the twin propositions that there is a ‘need’ for infrastructure, and that public finances will not be adequate to finance that ‘need’. On that basis, they then address the question of what types of risk are faced by PPP-financed infrastructure. There is much in the paper that is informative. However, it is not a discussant’s role to praise, but rather to raise questions and provide critical comments.