Latin America and the Caribbean

Fostering Productive Public-Private Partnerships: Hospital do Subúrbio

One million people live in Periperi, an impoverished district in the Brazilian city of Salvador. For decades, they lacked an emergency hospital. That's about to change with the Hospital do Subúrbio, the first to be built in this area in 20 years, and the first to operate under a public-private partnership in the country.

IFC served as the lead advisor to the government of Bahia state, which is building the hospital. With 298 beds, the hospital is expected to treat 20,000 in-patients and 120,000 outpatients each year. For many people in the area, the hospital's opening marks the first time they can easily obtain surgical, orthopedic, and other specialized medical services.

"I feel happy to be working here on the Hospital do Subúrbio, getting it ready for my family and others," said Carlos Nascimento, a mason who worked on the hospital's construction.

The hospital will be equipped and operated by a private consortium for 10 years, after which it will revert to the government. IFC's expertise helped prepare the feasibility study, economic analysis, and project structuring for the concession contract. We also helped with public consultation and the bidding process, under the highest levels of transparency.

In a time of scarce resources and growing needs, many governments are searching for ways to do more with less—to increase the quantity and quality of infrastructure investments while limiting public-sector funding and risk. IFC is responding by helping them set up public-private partnerships and other private sector participation arrangements. We are the only multilateral agency that offers direct advisory services to governments on private sector participation in infrastructure, health, and education.

In 2010, IFC completed 10 successful public-private partnerships that address basic infrastructure and health care needs. These partnerships have also yielded fiscal savings of $1.4 billion for governments and leveraged $1.7 billion in private investment.