Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
Nelson King, Vinette K. Pryce, Bert Wilkinson, Lloyd Kam
Williams
GENERAL INFORMATION (718) 260-2500
Caribbean L 10 ife, May 24–30, 2019 BQ
By Jomo Kwame
Sundaram
After the failure and abuses
of privatization became
apparent, public-private
partnerships have since
been promoted ostensibly to
mobilize private finance for
the public purpose. In all
too many cases, PPPs have
socialized costs and losses
while ensuring private
financial gains.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia,
May 21, 2019 (IPS) —
After the failure and abuses
of privatization and contracting
out services from
the 1980s, there has been
renewed appreciation for
the role of the state or government.
Earlier promoters
of privatization have taken a
step backward, only to take
two more forward to instead
promote public-private partnerships
(PPPs).
PPPs for most
purposes
PPPs are essentially longterm
contracts, underwritten
by government guarantees,
with which the private
sector builds (and sometimes
runs) major infrastructure
projects or services
traditionally provided
by the state, such as hospitals,
schools, roads, railways,
water, sanitation and
energy.
PPPs are promoted by
many governments associated
with the Organization
for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD)
and some multilateral development
banks — especially
the World Bank — as the
solution to the financing
shortfall needed to achieve
development, including the
Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs).
Since the late 1990s, many
countries have embraced
PPPs in many areas ranging
from healthcare and education
to transport and infrastructure
— with mixed
consequences. They were
less common in developing
countries, but that is changing
rapidly, with many countries
in Asia, Latin America
and Africa now introducing
enabling legislation and initiating
PPP projects.
PPPs are now an increasingly
popular means to
finance mega-infrastructure
projects, but dams,
highways, large plantations,
pipelines and energy
or transport infrastructure
can ruin habitats, displace
communities and devastate
natural resources. Typically,
social and environmental
legislation is weakened
or circumscribed to attract
investors for PPPs.
There are also a growing
number of ‘dirty’ energy
PPPs, devastating the environment,
undermining progressive
environmental conservation
efforts and exacerbating
climate change. PPPs
have also led to forced displacement,
repression and
other abuses of local communities,
indigenous peoples,
displaced farmers and
labourers among others.
PPP financing more
public than private
Nevertheless, experiences
with PPPs have been largely,
although not exclusively,
negative, and very few PPPs
have delivered results in the
public interest. There has
been some supposed success
with infrastructure
PPPs, mainly due to financing
arrangements. Generally,
PPPs for hospitals and
schools have much poorer
records compared to infrastructure.
One can have good financing
arrangements, due to
preferential interest rates,
for a poor PPP project. Nevertheless,
private finance all
over the world still accounts
for a small share of infrastructure
financing. However,
good financing arrangements
will not make a bad
PPP project any better.
PPPs typically involve
public financing for developing
countries to attract
bids from influential private
companies, often from
abroad. ‘Blended finance’,
export financing and new
supposed aid arrangements
have become means for foreign
governments to support
powerful corporations
bidding for PPP contracts
abroad, especially in developing
countries. Incredibly,
such arrangements
are increasingly counted
as overseas development
assistance, as North-South,
South-South or triangular
development cooperation.
Like privatization, PPPs
often increase fees or charg-
By Schneps Media
With the number of cyclists
killed in New York City on the
rise in 2019, it’s clear something
must be done to prevent further
tragedy.
Brooklyn’s streets are proving
to be treacherous for cyclists.
There have been 10 cyclist fatalities
in 2019 — the same number
the city saw in 2018, according
to Vision Zero data — eight of
which have occurred in Brooklyn,
including three in a four-day
span last week.
Activists have laid blame on
city officials for the lack of dedicated
bike lanes throughout
much of Southern Brooklyn,
where five of the 10 fatalities
have occurred.
In addition to the 10 fatalities,
Vision Zero data reveals that
there have been 993 cyclist injuries
across the five boroughs as
of April 30.
This paper obtained video
from the victim of a hit-and-run
incident in Clinton Hill last week
where a driver struck a cyclist
and fled the scene. We published
the video and sent the clip to the
NYPD’s 88th Precinct, which reopened
the investigation.
We urge victims of similar
incidents to share their stories
with their local newspapers and
media outlets. Let us tell your
stories so we can help spread the
word and help prevent further
tragedy. Every publicized incident
will put pressure on local lawmakers
to protect their cycling
constituents.
The City Council is hoping
to improve road safety with
its “Vision Zero Streets Design
Standard” bill, which would formalize
a set of safety measures for
the Department of Transportation
to consider when renovating
city streets. Proponents of the bill
believe it would encourage construction
of bike lanes and other
traffic calming measures in cardense
neighborhoods.
The street in Clinton Hill where
the biker was struck did not have
a dedicated bike lane. The city
had removed “sharrows,” shared
lane markings which indicate
that while there’s no dedicated
bike lane on the street, drivers
and bicyclists have to share the
space. Sharrows aren’t perfect —
they do not offer an explicit lane
and keep cyclists at risk of being
struck — but perhaps one may
have prevented the cyclist from
being struck in Clinton Hill.
Council Speaker Corey Johnson
recently announced a May 30
deadline to vote on the measure,
which is co-sponsored by 14 of
the body’s 15 Brooklyn lawmakers.
The only Kings County councilmember
not sponsoring the
bill is Kalman Yeger (D–Borough
Park), who represents the location
where the teen was killed on
Wednesday.
Yeger should sponsor the bill,
too. Doing so would show a united
front that among the Kings
County councilmembers; it would
show constituents that Brooklyn
will take action and not wait for
the next tragedy to strike.
Bike lanes may not be the perfect
solution, but they will help
keep cyclists alive. If drivers can
stay out of bike lanes, and cyclists
can stay out of the road, then
there shouldn’t be any fatalities.
Accidents happen, but we need to
do our part to prevent them.
OP-EDS
There are also a
growing number
of ‘dirty’ energy
PPPs, devastating
the environment,
undermining
progressive
environmental
conservation
efforts and
exacerbating
climate change.
Continued on Page 12
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Public-private
partnerships fad fails
Action to protect
cyclists needed
/schnepsmedia.com