A public private partnership (PPP) is an arrangement between government and business for the provision of assets and the delivery of services that allocates responsibilities and business risks among the various partners. In a PPP arrangement, the government remains actively involved throughout the project's life cycle. The private sector is responsible for the more commercial functions such as project design, construction, finance and operations.

PPPs take a variety of forms, with varying degrees of public and private sector involvement - and varying levels of public and private sector risk. In fact, risk transfer from the public sector to the private sector is a critical element of all PPPs. The goal is to combine the best capabilities of the public and private sectors to form a synergistic partnership.