But calls for laws to govern partnerships on major public projects are dismissed
Schools and hospitals could be included among a range of public services in Hong Kong opened to private investment.
Duncan Pescod, head of the Government Efficiency Unit, said public-private partnership (PPP) projects were better than government ones in terms of quality control. But he brushed aside suggestions that legislation would be needed to govern such schemes, and he insisted that the new model was not designed to avoid scrutiny by the Legislative Council.
'In PPP, payment is usually involved. You can penalise a private company by not paying if it fails to deliver quality services. But you cannot penalise a government department if its service standard is not up to [a certain] level,' Mr Pescod said yesterday.
Under the PPP, public works and services are paid for and operated by private companies under government control.
Unlike normal government infrastructure projects, where finances have to be approved by lawmakers, PPP schemes can bypass Legco because they do not necessarily involve public expenditure.
