Constraints implementation of PPP urban development infrastructure projects

Abstract

Urban development infrastructure projects are vital as they can facilitate significant benefits to society. As a result of the struggling economies of developing countries Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have been identified as a key strategic policy to deliver public infrastructure facilities. PPPs facilitate the private sector to get involved with financing, designing, building, operating, maintaining and management of projects. However, Sri Lanka is still struggling to implement PPP urban development infrastructure projects due to institutional constraints. This study focuses on investigating the constraints of the public sector for better implementation of PPP urban development infrastructure projects. From this study, it was critically reviewed the use of PPP by the public sector with special reference to urban development infrastructure projects and explained the PPP coverage on infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka. Further, it explicated the government's institutional barriers to better implementation of PPP projects through a comprehensive literature review. Considering these institutional barriers, a study was carried out in the Urban Development Authority (UDA), Sri Lanka to appraise the challenges that the UDA is facing for better implementation of PPP infrastructure projects. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the empirical data acquired from a questionnaire survey from both inside and outside 32 professionals who closely worked with PPP infrastructure projects of UDA. The studies revealed six main areas and 38 subareas of barriers for better implementation of infrastructure PPP projects. The main areas are Project Feasibility, Procurement Method, Risk Allocation, Managing Social Barriers, Continuous Involvement and Support from the Government Staff. In the context of UDA, Managing Social Barriers and Support from the UDA staff were appraised as the most challenging sectors. Finally, the findings identified the main constraints for better implementation of PPP urban development infrastructure projects. Keywords: Urban Development Infrastructure Projects, Public-Private Partnerships, Urban Development Authority, government institutional barriers