Public-Private Partnership (PPP) offers many potential advantages for the government in
providing infrastructure facilities. However, the implementation of PPP projects has not
been easy. This article aims to study the implementation of PPP seaport projects in India.
On the basis of cross-case analyses with three units of analysis: 1) Management of PPP
project process; 2) financial viability analysis; and 3) value for money analysis. Four
patterns are identified from three case projects. The first pattern shows that independent
regulators (e.g. the Tariff Authority for Major Ports) played an important role in
protecting lenders‘ interest by scrutinising the capital expenditure of port terminals for the
purpose of tariff setting. The second is that unrealistic traffic projections result in
cancellation of tendering and create tariff setting issues in the subsequent operation phase.
The third pattern shows that poor project preparation at the pre-bid stage leads to
prolonged negotiations and delays in financial closure. And the fourth pattern shows that
three cases have successfully demonstrated the ability to deliver value for money in terms
of time efficiency, cost overrun anticipation, traffic performance, attractive interest rates
and tenor of debt. On the basis of these findings, the authors offer a number of suggestions
to improve the quality and effectiveness of the evaluation procedure for PPP seaport
projects.