T&I Panel to Look at International P3s Models

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Panel on Public-Private Partnerships on April 8 is scheduled to examine business studies involving international companies that worked with national firms to devise plans to fund and maintain infrastructure projects.

From 2008 to 2013, several governments signed approximately 158 public-private partnerships ( P3s) concession agreements. Fifteen such agreements involved the United States, according to background the panel provided.

Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.), chairman of the P3 panel, has indicated he will submit recommendations to the full Transportation and Infrastructure Committee based on information gathered from these hearings. The panel is tasked with exploring the use of and opportunities for P3s across transportation modes, public buildings, waterways and maritime infrastructure.

Transportation leaders are expected to rely on the panel’s recommendations as they move forward with a reauthorization of the 2012 transportation law commonly referred to as MAP-21. That law expires in September.

Witnesses appearing before the panel include: Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.); Larry Blain, chairman of the board of directors at Partnerships British Columbia; David Morley, vice president for business and government strategy at Infrastructure Ontario; Cherian George, managing director — Americas at Global Infrastructure & Project Finance, Fitch Ratings; and Matti Siemiatycki, associate professor of geography and program in planning at the University of Toronto.

The hearing begins at 10 a.m.