10 February 2026
Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) and Delay Claims: A Ticking Time Bomb?
Public–Private Partnerships are often sold as the safe option. They provide:
- Balanced risk allocation.
- Bankable contracts.
- Clear interfaces.
- Strong governance.
On paper, PPPs look like the antidote to claims and disputes. But how do they look in reality?
They may be one of the most delay-sensitive project models ever created.
And many stakeholders are sitting on a ticking time bomb without realizing it.
Why PPPs Are Different When It Comes to Delay
In a traditional construction contract, delay usually means one thing: time and money between Employer and Contractor. In a PPP, delay is never just “a construction issue”.
A single delay event can cascade across:
- construction milestones
- availability payments
- financing covenants
- debt service schedules
- ender step-in rights
- termination regimes
Suddenly, a 60-day delay is no longer a scheduling problem.
It becomes a financial and political problem.
The Silent Killer: Revenue-Based Risk
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
In many PPPs, delay equals lost revenue, not just prolongation cost.
Availability payments start late.
Shadow tolls shift.
Unitary payments are reduced.
Performance deductions bite earlier than expected.
Yet I regularly see:
- weak delay entitlement strategies
- late or defensive notices
- schedules prepared “for progress”, not for claims
- risk registers that ignore delay-revenue interaction
That’s how PPP projects sleepwalk into disputes.
Why Delay Claims in PPPs Fail (Even When Delay Is Real)
From a forensic delay perspective, PPP claims fail for three recurring reasons:
1. The baseline programme was never bankable
It satisfied procurement—but not forensic scrutiny.
2. Delay responsibility is blurred by interfaces
Public Authority. SPV. O&M contractor. EPC contractor. Lenders.
Everyone owns a piece of the delay—until no one owns it.
3. Time is analysed in isolation from finance
Yet in PPPs, time is finance.
If your delay analysis cannot explain:
- when revenue should have started
- how delay affected cash flow
- whether mitigation protected lenders
you are already on the back foot.
The Dangerous Illusion of “Risk Transfer”
PPPs love the phrase risk transfer.
But delay risk is rarely transferred cleanly.
Instead, it is:
- fragmented across contracts
- diluted through interfaces
- misunderstood during execution
- weaponized during disputes
By the time arbitration or expert determination starts, the delay story has been rewritten five
times—often inconsistently.
That’s not risk transfer.
That’s risk postponement.
What PPP Projects Should Be Doing (But Often Don’t)
From experience, the projects that survive delays without imploding do three things early:
- Treat the baseline programme as a legal instrument, not just a planning tool
- Link delay analysis directly to payment mechanisms and financing models
- Document mitigation decisions in real time, not retrospectively
Delay analysis in PPPs is not about proving who is late.
It’s about proving who carried the economic consequence of time.
Final Thought
PPPs don’t fail because they are complex.
They fail because teams underestimate how fast delay becomes systemic.
If you’re involved in a PPP—public authority, SPV, contractor, lender, or advisor—ask
yourself one question:
If a major delay occurs tomorrow, do we already know who pays, how much, and why?
If the answer isn’t crystal clear, the clock is already ticking.
Written By: Panayiotis Pantaridis
LinkedIn: Panayiotis Pantaridis
Author Bio: Panayiotis Pantaridis is a seasoned Senior Project & Construction Management Expert and a Chartered European Civil Engineer (EUR-ING), with a prolific 22-year career marked by involvement in major international projects.
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