Quebec’s Auditor General slams highway public private partnership
Yesterday Quebec’s Auditor General came out with a report slamming public private partnerships in that province. The special audit was conducted at the request of the Conseil du trésor. It looked at the agreement for the seven service areas on Québec’s highways.
The following is a summary of the findings.
- The analysis conducted to demonstrate that the PPP is the best solution is incomplete.
- The soundness of the sole tenderer’s financing plan has not been demonstrated.
- Negotiations allowed with the selected candidate resulted in notable modifications of the financial model.
- Despite a higher-than-expected public financial participation, the financial model remains “fragile.”
- The guarantees that were granted limited the partner’s and the lenders’ risks and increased those of the Quebec Transportation Ministry
- The risks related to construction permits and environmental requirements were not the subject of a rigorous follow-up, and
- Despite the significant consequences of partner’s default, the Department made no follow-up of its financial situation.
A summary of the Quebec Auditor General’s report is available in English here in Chapter 2. Sadly, this is not likely to be reported in the media in BC.