Public-private partnerships to rebuild crumbing infrastructures are becoming the norm around the world, an expert from professional services firm KPMG said yesterday.

Josh Hjartarson, based at KPMG’s Toronto office, said that public-private co-operation, known as P3, was “the model by which countries now are rebuilding necessary infrastructure”.

He added: “In the UK, they are making massive upgrades that had these huge positive ripple effects across the economy.”

Dr Hjartarson declined to discuss the specifics of the plan to use a P3 partnership to redevelop Bermuda’s airport, which has generated controversy.

But he said: “It’s not just a piece of infrastructure — it’s a conduit across the world.”

And he added: “The P3 system is being introduced across the world and is probably becoming the norm.”

Dr Hjartarson will deliver today’s keynote speech at the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting and lunch at the Hamilton Princess.

He said that the airport development in Bermuda offered Government and the civil service a chance to develop experience.

“The Government, through this process is probably building up a unique set of skills it never had before,” Dr Hjartarson said.

“The contracting relationship, the Government’s relationships with third parties, these can be transferred to other things which are not dealing with infrastructure.

“There is a skill set which is being built up which will have utility beyond infrastructure.”

Mr Hjartarson said that the Ontario province was a global leader in the use of P3, with countries from around the globe sending delegations to look at the best models.

He added: “We neglected our infrastructure for years, for decades and decades — we had a lot of pressure for rebuilding and in doing so, we built up this expertise.”

Dr Hjartarson said: “The risks are shared on cost overruns and delays — having certainty on project costs is quite attractive.”

He added that he would today discuss how governments around the world were operating to provide services, “particularly in the context of slow growth and evolving citizen demands and fiscal constraints”.

Dr Hjartarson said he had spent a lot of his time in his roles as vice-president, public sector with KPMG looking at how Britain and Australia had used alternative methods to construct major projects.

He added: “It’s not in the context of saving money or anything like that — it’s in the context of growth.”

Dr Hjartarson said that government in Bermuda ranked among the top three industries on the island.

He said: “The Government and also the population at large have a stake in knowing these dollars are being used in the most effective way possible.”

He added that governments everywhere had to ask themselves what they were trying to achieve through various programmes — although said people “would be surprised at how infrequently these questions were asked.”

Dr Hjartarson said a good example was prison systems, where it had to be decided whether locking people up or working to lower the crime rate was the priority.

He added: “How you set up your prison system is contingent on how you answer these questions — then you find the most appropriate delivery mechanisms for these outcomes.”

He explained the British government had involved the private sector to try and lower the rate of reoffending, with third parties involved in the prison system to reduce reoffending who were paid by results.

Dr Hjartarson said: “There are some areas, it’s clear, where there is a role for government — the police, for example — but there are other areas governments are in where you could get better outcomes and efficiency where a third party delivers them.”

But he stressed he was “neutral” on whether the private sector or non-profit organisations were used and that the best option should be chosen.

Dr Hjartarson said that massive delays in the public obtaining driving licences and the need for a major computer system upgrade had led to the outsourcing of the service — but with strict government oversight.

He explained: “It happens to be the end of the delivery chain is a private company, but the state is still heavily involved.”

And he said: “There is this whole continuum of models, of different models, where the private sector and the public sector retain different roles.”