Transboundary Waters, Infrastructure Development and Public Private Partnership: Through the Prism of the Nam Thuen 2 and Xayaburi Hydropower Projects

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have increasingly emerged as a valuable mechanism for drawing in investment and expertise from the private sector to meet public infrastructure needs. PPPs involving transboundary international waters require particular attention given their huge potential for social and environmental impact.

Transboundary Waters, Infrastructure Development and Public Private Partnership examines what PPPs are and how they function in the context of transboundary waters. It explains how environmental and social "safeguards” operate in relation to PPPs and transboundary waters in light of the Nam Theun 2 and the Xayaburi Hydroelectric Power projects in Laos PDR. Finally, it draws important lessons from their contractual arrangements, costs, financing and risk mitigation that are relevant to PPPs in other transboundary waters matters.