Reaching close on the first public-private partnership (PPP) in the Irish road sector, the N4/N6 Kilcock-Kinnegad scheme, was an important milestone for the tendering agency, Ireland's National Roads Authority (NRA). The agency has endured considerable criticism from the wider project finance market that the risk allocation in the Irish road deals is unbankable - however, the N4/N6 sponsor, Cintra-led Eurolink, and its funders BBVA and SCH are themselves obviously content that the terms can support a viable financing. By Daniel O'Sullivan.

February 97: Millbank Tower. Our keen political noses having scented the possibility that Labour might win the forthcoming election, we visit the command centre to talk about likely policy on the Underground. Meet two impressively bright assistants plotting a future for the Tube and considering what should go into the manifesto. We are asked to write a paper on how to bring in capital without privatising, and how to regulate the system in the public interest. July 97: Aberdeenshire. Working on a

With the selection of a preferred bidder on the William Osler Health Centre in Ontario, Canada is moving forward with its pilot program in hospital ppp. The appeal of the scheme will soon be tested as The Healthcare Infrastructure Company of Canada looks to put funding in place quickly. By Alison Healey.

"There is an urgent need to upgrade existing infrastructure" in the transportation sector in Latin America "and to establish more efficient systems to administer operation and maintenance," officials from the Inter-American Development Bank said at a recent investors' meeting. While nations throughout the LatAm region are in need of transportation investment, international and private-sector investors are most likely to focus their interest on some of the more financially stable nations in the region, including Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. By Nicole Gelinas. ____________________________________________________________

There is a bit of a lull in the Australian PPP market at the moment as the market waits for results to be known on tenders or for the deals to be launched. Indeed the market is still in its infancy, and continual deal flow has yet to be established. By Sharon Klyne. ____________________________________________________________

Attitudes in Japan towards the private finance initiative have been changing. There is now a more open acceptance to the partnership between the government and the private sector in developing public projects. It started at the local and prefectural levels, but now, the central government, too, has actively joined the bandwagon. Minerva Lau reports. Japan is relatively still an infant in terms of the application and implementation of the public private sector partnerships, but it is getting popu

The public roads sector in India is experiencing a lot of activity, no small part due to political backing from as high up as the Prime Minister's office. The programme is a mammoth undertaking which requires massive input of funds as well as continued political support. By Sharon Klyne. The National Highway Development Programme (NHDP), overseen by the National Highway Authority of India, is primarily divided into three components. The NHDP project includes the following components: The Golden

Major steps have been taken in recent weeks towards realising the initial financial basis for Infrastrutture SpA (I-SpA), the Italian state agency created to help fund strategic infrastructure projects around the country but focused for now on completing construction of the Italian high-speed rail network, the Treno Alta Velocita (TAV). Three banks have now been appointed as lead arrangers on the E3bn-plus first tranche of a planned €28bn programme of I-SpA debt to fund the TAV specifically. Key questions however remain about exactly how these borrowings will be accounted for by the government, which has expressed its desire to see them held off-balance sheet. By Daniel O'Sullivan.

Korea has historically been identified as an immature market. However, the government's commitment to infrastructure, established framework and recent market events are evidence of Korea's progression through the developing phase. By John Walker, president and CEO, Shinhan Macquarie Financial Advisory, Brad Kim, manager, Shinhan Macquarie Financial Advisory and Adam Ballin, executive, Shinhan Macquarie Financial Advisory. __________________________________________________

Isreal's Housing & Construction (H&C) says it brought a unique solution to an infrastructure problem that plagued successive Czech governments. The firm led an international consortium that made an unprecedented bid and inked a contract to build an 80-kilometer high-speed motorway on a crucial link of a north-south European transport corridor around the eastern Czech city of Ostrava. Yet what was supposed to be a model public-private partnership ended acrimoniously when the government pulled out of the D47 motorway contract in April. By Scott MacMillan.

Project finance has penetrated almost all of the world's major sectors, in all of the world's populated continents. Yet in the sub-Saharan African water sector the model has at best been used sparingly and at worst could disappear altogether. Michael Dunning uncovers the reason behind project finance's spluttering appearance on the African water scene. __________________________________________________

English cricket batsmen Geoff Boycott was famous for playing the ball with a very straight bat. Life was not very exciting when Geoff came to the crease but he scored a lot of runs. Do the monolines match up to Geoff's boring, sensible standards?It is a question of growing importance in the global infrastructure funding markets. Monolines are very much a part of the scene now. By Rod Morrison.

Many of the architects of the UK's largest public-private partnership deals have been quietly setting up shop in the US looking to take advantage of the opportunities that may stem from the combination of aging infrastructure and budgetary constraints. The list of projects moving forward in scattered across sectors and states. By Alison Healey.

Mexico and its neighbour to the north have developed a symbiotic relationship since Canada, the US and Mexico ratified the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) nearly a decade ago. But 10 years of free trade have effected only marginal improvements to the infrastructure underlying one basic universal need in Mexico: fresh drinking water and wastewater treatment. Public- and private-sector players on both sides of the border are still looking for innovative ways to improve the water supply for Mexicans who don't have the tax base to build state-of-the-art systems from the ground up. By Nicole Gelinas.