Interim report / EPAC Private Infrastructure Task Force
- Bib ID:
- 2185583
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Australia. Economic Planning Advisory Commission. Task Force on Private Sector Involvement in Public Infrastructure
- Description:
-
- Canberra : Australian Govt. Pub. Service, c1995
- x, 233 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.
- ISBN:
-
- 0644432241
- 0644451289
- Summary:
-
Recommendations: 1. The Commonwealth and those State and Territory Governments that have not yet issued guidelines for private sector involvement in public infrastructure provision should do so -- 2. Private sector guidelines should specify that the choice between public and private provision will be based on which party can provide infrastructure more efficiently (in the broad welfare sense), rather than on the need to minimise the financial burden on governments. This in turn implies that governments should allocate risk to the party best able to bear it, and not seek to automatically shfit as much risk as possible to the private sector. Explicit risk management plans should be part of the project development process, to ensure that the form of private sector involvement best matches the risk profile of individual projects --
3. Where private sector guidelines include industry development as a factor in awarding contracts, they should specify that favourable consideration will only be given to tenders providing for higher local content where the activity is competitive with other sources of supply. Any industry or regional development objectives should be pursued through explicit and transparent mechanisms -- 4. The Commonwealth, and State and Territory Governments which do not already do so, should issues each year lists of all new major infrastructure projects planned over the short to medium term. These lists (and appropriate disclaimers regarding a commitment to proceed) should also indicate for which projects private sector involvement is being sought -- 5. Competitive tender should almost always be used to select private contractors for major public infrastructure projects. If a government agency does not go to tender for a major project, it should publicly document its reasons --
6. For major privately controlled public infrastructure projects, the government signatory to the contract should provide Parliament with a contract summary and commentary by the Auditor-General based on the full contract. The contract should include the sort of information by the NSW Public Accounts Committee, as well as information on the overall distribution of project returns between the public and private sectors -- 7. To support the development of efficient infrastructure financing, the Commonwealth Government should continue to encourage the development of the long term bond market through managed 'stepped' increases in the maturities of its long-dated bonds -- 8. Loan Council should examine its current treatment of revenue bond financing with a view to excluding geniune non-recourse debt from Loan Council Allocations --
9. The superannuation and life insurance industry should continue to seek to improve the benchmarks for measuring the performance of superannuation of life funds. The Commonwealth Government should review the outcomes of these industry initatives, with a view to imposing longer term information reporting requirements, if these are not otherwise forthcoming -- 10. The infrastructure bond system should be retained for the present, but with a review to be undertaken by the Commonwealth before 1997-98. Continuation of the arrangements beyond this date would depend on the outcome of that review which would explicitly assess infrastructure bodns against alternative ways of meeting underlying objectives and in the light of further developments in infrastructure markets. A 'sunset clause' should be introduced into the present infrastructure bond legislation so as to oblige timely review and to require that a clear case be made for further continuation --
11. Pending finalisation of the review of the infrastructure bond system, the Commonwealth Treasury should, in conjunction with the Development Allowance Authority, infrastructure providers and financiers and representatives fo the Federal and State Governments, monitor the recently revised arrangements with a view to addressing whether there is a need for further changes in the detailed workings of the system -- 12. The planned Heads of Treasury review on the operation of the New Loan Council procedures should also consider whether it is now possible to dispense with all directive controls so as to render the Loan Council purely a monitoring and information providing body -- 13. The Commonwealth should either abolish or redraft section 51AD and division 16D of the Tax Act with the objectives of minimising transaction or compliance costs and dealing with issues of tax arbitrage more generally through leasing rather than focussing solely on tax exempt bodies --
14. The Heads of Treasury Working Group examination of tax compensation issues should resolve whether the current tax treatment of government grants to private infrastructure projects is either a disincentive to efficient private sector involvement, or encourages the use of less cost effective or transparent forms of assistance -- 15. Those States and Territory which have yet to formulate project appraisal guidelines should do so. All States and Territories should also facilitate the application of the principles embodies in these guidelines to major investments undertaken at the local government level -- 16. Those major cities and regions and those key infrastructure sectors which do not have strategic planning processes in place should do so.
These plans should cover both physical and economic planning (including pricing, access and competition), links with closely related sectors and give clear timetables for implementation and review -- 17. State-based and Commonwealth central agencies responsible for coordinating infrastructure investment should: ensure government accounts contain sufficient balance sheet type information to enable an assessment to be made of the change in net public sector assets; identify specifically where new net norrowings are to be invested and why; allow community access to summaries of cost-benefit (or similar) analysis undertaken for major proposed infrastructure projects, including those which are the responsibility of budget sector agencies, and which are undertakn by a GBE at the direction of government.
Also full cost-bebenfit studies and post-project audits for major public infrastructure projects should eb available from sponsoring or audit agencies -- 18. An Infrastructure Advisory Committee should be established to coordinate the planning and appraisal of infrastructure investment and services which cut across State borders or are nationally significant. This should operate under the auspices of the Council of Australian Governments and advise on: future infrastructure needs, including broader spinoffs and wider community effects; viable new infrastructure projects and the conditions of major existing assets; which infrastructure areas and major national projects deserve special priority and whether these is adequate planning for this; and best-practice benchmarks for infrastructure planning and investment appraisal across Australia. The Committee would encourage collection and dissemination of information on the state of Australia's infrastructure assets, the success or otherwise of previous investments, and other information relevant to future infrastructure needs.e auth
- Full contents:
-
- [v. 1.] Interim report
- [v. 2.] Interim report : commissioned studies.
- Notes:
-
- "ISSN 1322-8919"--T.p. verso.
- Director: Glenn Withers.
- Other members of Task Force: Fred Argy, Kerry Schott, Derek Scrafton.
- "May 1995".
- Bibliography: p. 225-233.
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Withers, Glenn, 1946-
- Also Titled:
- Private infrastructure task force interim report
- Terms of Use:
- Commonwealth of Australia 1995.
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2045 [Created/Published Date + 50 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 1995
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