Research On Government Responsibility In Public-Private Partnerships

Since the founding of new China,Public utilities had been regarded as the public welfare undertaken by the government,the government is responsible for providing public goods and services.With the development of market economy,the traditional supply mode has been unable to adapt to the needs of modern social development.The low efficiency of public utilities,inadequate facilities and insufficient financial input have become the bottleneck of the urbanization process.Influenced by economic globalization,our country started the privatization reform of public utilities in the end of 1990s,and tried many public-private partnerships(PPP).PPP has become an irresistible trend.However,the advancement of PPP is not always easy,there are still many problems to be solved.In order to promote the development of PPP,our government has introduced a series of policies,to deep the application of PPP since 2014.The author believes that the reason why China's PPP projects encounter problems or even failure,largely is the government responsibility is unclear in PPP,even into nothingness.Therefore,it is urgent to comb the responsibilities of the government in PPP systematically and comprehensively.This article analyzes the government's three responsibilities starting with the role orientation.In the PPP,the government acts as a collaborator,a guarantor,and a regulator of the PPP project.Based on the different roles,the government undertakes contractual liability,guarantee responsibility and regulatory responsibility.The public choice theory,new public management theory and principal-agent theory lay the theoretical foundation for the cooperation between the government and the private sector.As a collaborator,the government bears responsibilities from public law and private law.The government should select the cooperator,sign the PPP contract and faithfully execute the contract.While direct implementation of public service was commissioned to private subjects,the government should guarantee the results of public service,under the guidance of principle of social power,basic rights protection obligations and principle of complementarity,which cannot be abandoned.It needs to fulfill the security responsibility in two aspects:guaranteeing the legitimate rights of private subjects and ensuring the public access to public services.Third,there is market,there is regulation.The natural monopoly,the inherent information asymmetry and the external effects necessarily need government's regulation.The government should focus on access supervision,price regulation and quality control to take its regulatory responsibilities.Finally,the responsibilities of the government need standardize systems and safeguards systems.It is necessary to establish and perfect the PPP legal system,the mechanism of division and cooperation of labor,the risk sharing mechanism,credit supervision mechanism,temporary takeover system,administrative compensation system,price optimization mechanism and quality control mechanism.