This is a case study about a PPP project near King AbdulAziz International Airport. The project is managed by the sector of Environment, water, and agriculture with the goal of developing a sewage treatment plant.

There is an argument that small-scale projects cannot generate sufficient benefits to justify the relatively high cost of PPP procurement. Alternatively, small-scale PPPs are more likely to be sponsored by sub-national authorities and their impacts are concentrated on smaller populations. This Paper reviews international trends in small-scale PPPs and attempt to develop a toolkit of policies and measures to support their development and implementation. It also aims to address the obstacles facing project sponsors, private investors and lenders.

Traditional measures of the size of PPPs focus on capital investment, which could lead to a hidden bias towards greenfield infrastructure projects and away from brownfield and services-only PPPs. This Paper reviews the options for measuring the size of PPPs against both theoretical and practical criteria, and finds that life-cycle costs (LCC) would be a better indicator for screening projects.

There is an argument that small-scale PPPs (SSPPPs) cannot generate sufficient benefits to justify the relatively high cost of PPP procurement. At the same time there are many examples of SSPPPs that generated significant benefits for end-users. This Paper reviews international trends in SSPPPs to test various pre-conceptions about them. It forms part of a wider research initiative on SSPPPs. Its findings were originally published as part of the NCP Research Paper entitled “Improving Value for Money in Small-Scale PPPs”.

Small-scale PPPs (SSPPPs) can have significant impacts on their users, since they are often focused on specific locations. However, the cost of PPP procurement and the limited resources of the regional and municipal procuring authorities (PAs) make it difficult to justify using PPP for smaller projects that might otherwise be attractive. Recognizing this, some countries and institutions have adopted/proposed various measures to support SSPPPs. This Research Paper reviews the literature and, based on an analysis of the key constraints facing SSPPPs, proposes a package of initiatives (“SSPPP Toolkit”) that might be adopted to enhance the viability of smaller PPP projects. This Paper forms part of a wider research initiative on small-scale PPPs. Its findings were originally published as part of the NCP Research Paper entitled “Improving Value for Money in Small-Scale PPPs”.