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Public-Private Partnership Helpdesk launched

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The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has launched a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Helpdesk, which will provide technical assistance to regional governments seeking to develop PPP projects in their countries. The Helpdesk will assist governments to better manage PPP programmes and projects, especially in the early stages of development. It will provide support to governments through the provision of specialist consultants, to undertake pre-feasibility studies and PPP screening. “Many potential PPP projects in the Caribbean never get past the concept stage, as it takes a lot of work, technical capacity and money, to move a project from concept, through to feasibility study, then implementation. What we hope to do through this Helpdesk, which is a free resource to our Member Governments, is to assist in ensuring that projects that can have real potential are supported," said S. Brian Samuel, PPP Coordinator at CDB. So far, Anguilla and Grenada have utilized the services provided through the Helpdesk, which was officially launched in May 2016. The Helpdesk provides technical advice across all infrastructure sectors, including transportation, water and sanitation and renewable energy. The helpdesk is part of a US$1.2 million Regional PPP Support Facility, launched in March 2015, to build the capacity of government agencies to develop and implement PPP projects. CDB is the primary implementing agency of the Facility, with additional funding and technical support provided by the Inter-American Development Bank/Multilateral Investment Fund, and the World Bank/Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility. Other initiatives which are part of the Regional PPP Support Facility, include a series of three PPP boot camps held between September 2015 and February 2016. A Caribbean web-based PPP Toolkit is being launched in October 2016.

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