ABSTRACT
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have emerged internationally since the 1980s as a means to involve the use of private finance for public sector projects (Grimsey and Lewis, 2004; Rwelamila et al., 2014). The exact origin of PPP is hard to track but there are a few examples which suggest that PPP is a way of transforming the delivery of public services to boost economic growth. In Britain, Turnpike Trusts had powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways as early as the 1560s. Between the 1660s and the 1860s over 1,000 trusts administered around 30,000 miles of road in England and Wales, taking tolls at almost 8,000 toll-gates (William, 1972). The turnpike road development system reduced the rapid deterioration in the condition of main roads and built a network of well-maintained highways that allowed road transport to move more efficiently and reliably. Income from the collected tolls permitted substantial investment in the construction of new engineered structures such as drainages, embankments and bridges to provide faster routes where horse power could be used more efficiently to haul vehicles. The English Turnpike Trusts were replaced by highway boards in the late 1870s. The United States also used private turnpike companies as early as the 1790s to construct essential highways operated as toll roads (US-DOT, 2004). The first turnpike was chartered and became known as the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike in Pennsylvania. Turnpike construction resulted in the incorporation of more than 50 turnpike companies in Connecticut, 67 in New York, and others in Massachusetts and around the country. The use of concessions to provide public services was not limited to developed countries. The development of the Suez Canal, according to Grimsey and Lewis (2004), shows how concessions were widely used to develop major transport links such as canals, tunnels and bridges. The role of the private sector in financing and operating public infrastructure declined during the world war era following opposition from the overtaxed citizens in perceptions of more private gains than public good (Prefontaine et al., 2000).
