i-law

International Construction Law Review

INTRODUCTION

Chantal-Aimée Doerries

Douglas S Jones

In this edition, we start by welcoming back Jeffrey Delmon who brings us the second part of his article on risk allocation in project financed PPPs, entitled, “Increasing the Efficiency of Risk Allocation in Project Financed Public Private Partnership (PPP) Transactions by Reducing the Impact of Risk Noise” (at page 264). Delmon once again employs the metaphor of “risk noise” to paint a vivid picture of the various external forces which can have a deleterious effect on risk allocation in project financed PPPs.
Delmon draws on an impressive wealth of case studies, to produce a penetrating analysis of risk allocation in PPP projects, reflecting a significant cross-section of international PPP experience. These case studies encompass projects in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas, across the resources, telecommunications and construction industries.
In tackling this important topic, Delmon adopts a “divide and conquer” approach whereby he draws a distinction between project risks and country risks, and proceeds to address the issues which arise in each category of risk, ranging from those associated with completion and performance, to those of a political or commercial nature. A lack of information and knowledge on the part of project participants and particularly, lenders, is characterised by the author as “risk noise” which affects the allocation of risk in project financed PPP projects. Delmon provides his own valuable insights into approaching the task of evaluating and implementing “filtering” measures which can mitigate this “risk noise”.
Our second article, “Termination for Convenience: Recovering the Expectancy” (at page 286), by Dr Franco Mastrandrea, provides an analysis of the operation of termination for convenience clauses against a backdrop of the common law of England and the USA, and, standard form contracts including the FIDIC Red Book, American Institute of Architect’s Form A201 and the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract. The author traces the origins of the TFC clause to government wartime contracts and explains the historic necessity for governments to have the discretion to terminate wartime contracts following the cessation of hostilities, after which those contracts were rendered nugatory. He acknowledges the severe consequences unchecked exercise of termination for convenience clauses can have, and canvasses some of the legal limitations imposed by law and contractual safeguards which counteract these dangers.
Mastrandrea addresses the important question that arises upon the exercise of a power of termination for convenience: the extent to which an innocent contractor may recover for works yet to be executed. The author goes on to identify a number of standard form contractual provisions which address contractor recovery and to give a valuable summary of the position of the Courts in England and the USA on the matter. This is augmented by a discussion of the impact of limitation and exclusion clauses on contractor recovery. He concludes firstly, that a straightforward reading of the power to terminate

262

The rest of this document is only available to i-law.com online subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, click Log In button.

Copyright © 2024 Maritime Insights & Intelligence Limited. Maritime Insights & Intelligence Limited is registered in England and Wales with company number 13831625 and address 5th Floor, 10 St Bride Street, London, EC4A 4AD, United Kingdom. Lloyd's List Intelligence is a trading name of Maritime Insights & Intelligence Limited.

Lloyd's is the registered trademark of the Society Incorporated by the Lloyd's Act 1871 by the name of Lloyd's.