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The PPP That Was So Boring... It Was Brilliant
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Most PPP stories end in headlines. Claims. Inquiries. Mold. Political blame tennis. But today I want to tell you about a project so well-executed, it’s almost boring. Delivered on time. On budget. Met KPIs. No press scandals. No massive claims. No screaming auditors. You probably never even heard of it. Meet the Ararat Prison PPP in Victoria, Australia. What was it? A 350-bed medium-security men’s prison Located in regional Victoria Delivered via PPP under the Partnerships Victoria model Contract signed in 2010 Operational by 2012 Delivered by Aegis Correctional Partnership (John Holland + Honeywell + Macquarie + G4S) The Deal 25-year DBFOM contract Availability-based payments Design, construction, FM, and operations by the private partner Financed through a combination of equity and senior debt The Results? Construction completed on time and on budget Facility opened as planned, no scope cutbacks Services delivered per KPIs — no major deductions G4S running operations smoothly Government inspections? Passed. Public outcry? Nonexistent. Boring? Exactly. No headlines in the press = love letter Why did it work? Clear outputs, not fuzzy specs Sensible risk transfer — but not punitive A competent private consortium with skin in the game No political stunts — just a contract that was allowed to work And… surprise: No affordability threshold games. Take note NZ. The Lesson? When a PPP is structured properly, And the public agency acts like a client, not a hero, And the private partner is held accountable for the full lifecycle... You get this: A $350M asset that no one had to apologize for. No corruption. No scandal. Just a functioning prison. So next time someone says PPPs “never work,” Ask them why this one didn’t make the headlines. Spoiler: Because success stories don’t sell newspapers. But they sure as hell build better infrastructure. See you in the next disaster — or the next unicorn. In the meantime, you can check this:
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Vicente Valencia
I talk about Personal Growth, Management, Infrastructure and More | C-Suite Executive | Mentor, Coach, Strategic Consultant | Real Estate Investor | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
Let me tell you a story about a guy named Xenophon. He wasn’t born a warrior. He was a writer. A student of Socrates. I don’t know if he studied hard, but he had a pair of c0jones like Espartero’s horse. If you don’t believe me… keep reading. One day, Xenophon found himself stuck in Persia with 10,000 Greek mercenaries. Their generals were dead. Ambushed. Poisoned… yes, remember that there was no social media at the time. In summary… Gone. Everyone else? Panicking. Not Xenophon. He stood up...
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