P3 Infrastructure Projects: A Recipe for Corruption or an Antidote?

Public–private partnerships (P3s) have emerged as a leading means of structuring large, complex infrastructure projects in both developed and developing economies alike. However, P3s, due to their unique characteristics, can present opportunities for corruption. The purpose of this article is to promote the development of a nuanced and thorough understanding of P3 corruption risks such that those involved in developing, designing, and implementing P3s can more effectively harness the benefits of P3s while mitigating the corruption risks they introduce. This article also seeks to encourage further research into how infrastructure P3s can be better shaped to decrease the probability of corruption risks materializing. This article unpacks how and why P3s, as a distinct form of public procurement, are at once more and less susceptible to corruption as compared with traditional procurement methods and as such deserve special attention from an anticorruption perspective