The government wanted fewer rats.

So it paid people to kill them.

People started breeding them.

Unattended consequences are called today.

Or wrong clauses and incentives, as it should be.

Hanoi. 1902.

The French colonial authorities had a rat problem.

And a solution that looked perfectly sensible.

Pay a bounty.

Require proof.

Count the results.

Lovely.

But… There was just one small detail.

The proof was a tail.

Not a dead rat.

Apparently, nobody thought that distinction would become commercially relevant.

It did.

People cut off the tails.

Collected the money.

And let the rats go.

Or course… Alive.

Available.

And still very much interested in starting a family.

Authorities also discovered rat farms.

The government had turned pest control into livestock development.

Excellent entrepreneurial spirit.

Now.

Before you laugh too hard.

Open your highway PPP contract.

Go to the payment mechanism.

Then ask yourself:

What behaviour does this clause actually make profitable?

That’s it.

That could be the whole email… and you could make millions with it… or save them to the taxpayer…

Example that, if you have been in this industry for a while, you’ve already seen.

A defect deduction that costs less than fixing the defect.

You wanted a well-maintained road.

You made tolerating defects the cheaper option.

Or a response deadline that can be satisfied with a temporary repair.

You wanted the problem solved.

You may have bought a very punctual patch.

Again.

And again.

Until the patch has more birthdays than your children.

And… there is a part that should worry you… even more.

A clause can work exactly as written and still fail you completely.

In a highway PPP, you can live with that little drafting achievement for decades.

Through construction.

Operations.

Maintenance.

And the delightful moment when everyone discovers they have different ideas about what “acceptable condition” means.

Preferably six months before handback.

With three lawyers per square metre.

Here’s the lesson.

Before agreeing a clause, test it from the other side of the table.

You can get more details here:

​Key Challenges and Solutions in PPP Highway Projects — 5 Clauses You Should Improve​

Of course, this and many other interesting stories can be found, in The Room.

P.S. The rats didn’t draft the payment mechanism. They just benefited from it.

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