Independent Power Projects in Developing Countries: Legal Investment Protection and Consequences for Development by Henrik M. Inadomi, The Netherlands: Walter Kluwer Law & Business 2010, ISBN 978-90-411-3178-2, 416 pp.
Do not be fooled by this book’s main title, which seems to promise a hornbook for foreign investors. Inadomi’s book is, in fact, a hard hitting, in-depth analysis of the promises and pitfalls that accompany large-scale foreign direct investment in developing countries. Although the explicit focus is on independent power projects (IPPs), Inadomi confronts issues that are common to most infrastructure investment in low-income economies with poorly functioning laws and weak government institutions. He confronts the arcana of independent power projects in a straightforward way, explaining how they are financed and operated. Throughout the exposition he uses clear and informative prose that will permit any reader with a little economics training to grasp the essentials. This is a singular accomplishment because in some quarters murky jargon is used to discourage scrutiny by all but interested insiders.