Ke, Yongjian; Cheng, Zhe; Zhang, Jingxiao; Liu, Yong
2024 Built Environment Project and Asset Management
doi: 10.1108/bepam-01-2023-0009
Despite the widespread study and application of public-private partnerships (PPPs) since the 1980s, the field lacks a universally accepted definition that captures the concept's complexity. This study aims to offer a definition and foster a more substantive and comprehensive discourse on PPPs to improve communication and understanding between academics and practitioners from diverse disciplines and legislative backgrounds.Design/methodology/approachGrounded in the family-resemblance concept proposed by German philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, this study conducts a comprehensive literature review to identify core and non-core elements frequently cited in PPP descriptions. The authors used these findings to develop the PPP sunflower model as a structured framework for defining PPPs.FindingsThe analysis elucidates six core elements consistently present in PPP descriptions: clarity of roles and responsibilities, appropriate risk allocation and sharing, injection of expertise and resources, cooperation and teamwork, a bundle of services, and long-term contracts. Coupled with identified non-core elements, these core components comprise the PPP sunflower model, a structured framework for defining PPPs that accommodates their multi-faceted nature.Originality/valueThe PPP sunflower model distinguishes itself as a unique contribution to the PPP literature. It offers a rigorous theoretical framework that can elucidate the complexity of PPPs for various stakeholders. The model serves as a practical tool for evaluating the authenticity and viability of PPP projects. The study's novelty lies in its adoption of the family-resemblance concept, thereby providing a comprehensive, multi-dimensional framework that enhances the understanding of PPPs across different disciplines and legislative contexts.
Nayyer, Mojahedul Islam; Aravindan, Mukkai R.; Annamalai, Thillai Rajan
2024 Built Environment Project and Asset Management
doi: 10.1108/bepam-11-2022-0168
Involvement of lenders for PPP highway projects in India starts after the bid award. The post-award development phase of Toll and Annuity PPPs differ significantly in terms of potential risk assumed by lenders. This study aims to assess the impact of the transparency law on the post-award development phase of Toll and Annuity PPPs.Design/methodology/approachA unique dataset of 469 PPP highway projects implemented in India was used to conduct this empirical study. An OLS regression model was developed to assess the impact of the transparency law on the post-award development phase.FindingsEnacting the transparency law increased the duration of the post-award development phase of Toll projects; however, its impact on Annuity projects was not significant. Moreover, Toll and Annuity projects with a longer post-award development phase had a shorter construction phase. The post-award development phase of the Toll projects was relatively more sensitive to technical, economic and location-specific variables than Annuity projects. Length of road stretch, duration of the concession period and individual income of end-users significantly impacted the duration of this phase of Toll projects.Practical implicationsTransparency law can improve risk mitigation of Toll projects during the post-award development phase.Originality/valueThe impact of transparency law on PPP projects has never been assessed. This study assesses its impact on the two forms of PPPs. It also highlights the determinants of this phase and how they differ for the two forms of PPPs.
Nayyer, Mojahedul Islam; Annamalai, Thillai Rajan
2024 Built Environment Project and Asset Management
doi: 10.1108/bepam-11-2022-0173
Public-private partnership (PPP) highway projects in India are undertaken at both state and national levels, such that differences exist in how the procuring authorities manage project risk during the development and construction phase under different institutional frameworks. This study assesses the performance implication of the different administrative positionings of the procuring authority.Design/methodology/approachA data set of 516 PPP highway projects implemented in India formed the basis of this study. Means comparison, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and seemingly unrelated regression were used to assess the impact of procuring authority on schedule performance.FindingsThe findings suggest that the state and the national highway projects were no different in achieving financial closure. However, the administrative positioning of the procuring authorities had a significant impact on other schedule performance variables. The construction of the state highway projects started quickly after the financial closure compared to the national highway projects. Moreover, the state highway projects were not only planned to be implemented at a faster rate but they were actually implemented at a faster rate and had a lower time overrun.Practical implicationsProcuring authorities under the state governments, being closer to the project, are better placed to manage project risk than those under the national government.Originality/valueThe administrative distance of the procuring authority from the PPP project and its implication on performance has never been studied.
Castelblanco, Gabriel; Guevara, Jose; De Marco, Alberto
2024 Built Environment Project and Asset Management
doi: 10.1108/bepam-11-2022-0174
Global crises have become increasingly recurrent events that jeopardize public-private partnerships (PPPs). In this context, the purpose of this paper is to expose the PPP-crisis research agenda by combining bibliometric and network analyses.Design/methodology/approachThe PPP literature associated with global crises between the 2008 global financial crisis and 2022 was analyzed in three stages: (1) paper selection and screening for the inclusion/exclusion of articles relevant to this research, (2) semantic network development for examining thematic relationships among selected papers by considering the co-occurrence of keywords within the chosen studies and (3) calculation of network metrics for analysis.FindingsThe paper identified six research avenues for the PPP-crisis agenda: public interest, relational governance, risk management, user-pay PPPs, crisis management and financial performance. The PPP-crisis literature has spread significantly in the last five years driven by the case study approaches on a national or regional basis. Conversely, non-crisis periods generate room to strengthen user-pay PPPs and relational governance. The pandemic and post-pandemic times shared the priorities of the 2008 financial crisis but also strengthened the management of the risks and the structural drivers of the global crisis.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates that during global crisis periods, the public interest and financial performance gain relevance in a detriment of structural solutions to social legitimacy erosion of PPPs because of the urgency of giving tools to the public and private sectors to tackle the financial issues, which steer future issues for PPPs.
Nguyen, Tiep; Hallo, Leonie; Gunawan, Indra
2024 Built Environment Project and Asset Management
doi: 10.1108/bepam-03-2023-0053
The purpose of this paper is to rank critical risks and determine major categories of risks to be considered by public–private partnerships (PPPs) investors when investing in “smart” transportation infrastructure. Such investment is sorely needed in many mega cities around the world currently suffering from serious impacts of traffic congestion, pollution and lack of usability of transport systems.Design/methodology/approachThe study used literature review focused upon smart transportation infrastructure projects financed by PPP arrangements to create a questionnaire which was refined by subject matter experts and then completed by 126 experienced respondents. Exploratory factor analysis was used to create major categories emerging from the collected data. Interviews with ten experts were used to validate the findings.FindingsThe most highly major ranked risks shared by these participants were lack of expertise in complex project implementation, political interference, lack of PPP project data and lack of a collaboration mechanism between government and private sectors. Factor analysis showed that in terms of risk likelihood, stakeholder engagement, implementation process issues, the natural environment, data-sharing and technology complexity emerged. In terms of risk impact, major factors were stakeholder engagement, trust versus resistance issues, the natural environment and factors concerning uncertainty.Originality/valueThis paper addresses a somewhat unexplored area, the risks involved in investing in PPP smart transportation infrastructure. Such infrastructure projects are embedded in their environments, and approaches using a complexity lens can emerge overriding risk concerns for investors when undertaking such projects.
Jayasena, Nimesha Sahani; Chan, Daniel W.M.; Kumaraswamy, Mohan
2024 Built Environment Project and Asset Management
doi: 10.1108/bepam-12-2022-0206
The widespread lockdown restrictions brought by the global COVID-19 epidemic inculcated a culture of “work-from-home”. However, most rural areas lack reliable and effective community amenities including transportation, health and education, thereby impeding healthy living and productive employment. Therefore, the underlying goal of this research is to investigate the development of smart infrastructure (SI) in non-urban areas. However, governments' resource limitations must be addressed to develop SI, which urges the research on the potential for public-private partnerships (PPP) to supplement public sector resources when necessary.Design/methodology/approachThis paper examined and evaluated the “benefits and enablers” and “barriers” to deploying PPPs to create SI in non-urban areas, using a thorough literature review, five expert interviews and analytic hierarchy process (AHP)-based questionnaire responses. The AHP technique and content analysis were used to analyse the results and generate the conclusions.FindingsThe availability of a favourable investment climate and legal framework were identified as the significant factors among the “benefits and enablers” of adopting PPP in SI developments in non-urban areas, while low community acceptance of the private sector involvement, and community culture and values were identified as the significant factors among the “barriers”. These highlight the significance of removing barriers connected to community culture and “values”.Originality/valueThe findings and conclusions of this study provide a strong foundation to support the growth of SI in non-urban settings, facilitating more sustainable development that is more evenly distributed in the post-COVID-19 future.
Akomea-Frimpong, Isaac; Jin, Xiaohua; Osei Kyei, Robert; Tetteh, Portia Atswei; Tumpa, Roksana Jahan; Ofori, Joshua Nsiah Addo; Pariafsai, Fatemeh
2024 Built Environment Project and Asset Management
doi: 10.1108/bepam-01-2023-0014
The application of circular economy (CE) has received wide coverage in the built environment, including public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects, in recent times. However, current studies and practical implementation of CE are largely associated with construction demolition, waste and recycling management. Few studies exist on circular models and success factors of public infrastructures developed within the PPP contracts. Thus, the main objective of this article is to identify the models and key success factors associated with CE implementation in PPP infrastructure projects.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review of the literature was undertaken in this study using forty-two (42) peer-reviewed journal articles from Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and PubMed.FindingsThe results show that environmental factors, sustainable economic growth, effective stakeholder management, sufficient funding, utilization of low-carbon materials, effective supply chain and procurement strategies facilitate the implementation of CE in PPP infrastructure projects. Key CE business models are centered around the extension of project life cycle value, circular inputs and recycling and reuse of projects.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the study presents relevant findings and gaps for further investigations, it has a limited sample size of 42 papers, which is expected to increase as CE gain more prominence in PPP infrastructure management in future.Practical implicationsThe findings are relevant for decision-making by PPP practitioners to attain the social, economic and environmental benefits of transitioning to circular infrastructure management.Originality/valueThis study contributes to articulating the key models and measures toward sustainable CE in public infrastructure development.
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