Edinburgh Napier University

  Private road funding and privatised roads are not quite the same. There is a vast range of different ways in which private capital can participate in road infrastructure. Some of these are examined, and the implications of different forms of private participation are examined, with the complementary issues of sovereign risk, information availability and provision, operational guidelines and interactions with enforcement, investment and other communities. Issues of limitation of access, price setting and compensatory clauses in contracts are critical in some forms of private participation, and of lesser significance in others. Private participation in road infrastructure has real benefits, but there are many different models and the costs of each and the incidence of these costs varies accordingly. Issues of rights of way, strategic planning and means of providing a return to the private investor all vary. In Australia, the public debate on the full range of options in Australia has been limited