Public utilities and private initiative: The French concession model in historical perspective

Abstract

In France, the Public-Private Partnership allowed the conciliation of the social function of public services and public works and the limitation of their cost for each citizen. They were in three sectors: transport, energy and water, during the nineteenth century and the first part of the twentieth century.

After the Second World War, in spite of nationalisations, the concession system continued to operate in water treatment and distribution, but also in transport and energy. Moreover, the necessity to modernise French infrastructures favoured a revival of the concession system combined with Anglo-Saxon practices.

The French model of the concession constituted a major asset for French capitalism, with big multinational firms such as GDF-Suez, Veolia Environnement, Vinci and Bouygues.

Keywords:

• Build Operate Transfers
• civil engineering
• concession
• contracting
• globalisation
• multinational enterprises
• nationalisations
• privatisations
• public utilities
• Public-Private Partnership

Notes

1. Siméon married a daughter of the French banker François-Alexandre Seillière. See Stoskopf (2002).