Current Public-private Partnership Research Articles

Public–Private Partnerships: A Fresh Risk-Based Approach to Water Sector Projects

This study focused on the unbalanced relationships that can arise in current public–private partnership (PPP) risk management frameworks, especially in developing countries’ water sectors. Different stakeholders’ perceptions of risk management were examined by analyzing 15 interviews in Portugal and Mozambique. The hybrid method included semantic, descriptive statistic, content, and narrative analyses. To achieve the research objectives, the semi-structured interview transcripts were processed using quantitative and qualitative techniques to collate relevant actors’ opinions of risk management in PPP water projects. Five risk categories were identified. The interviewed experts ranked the financial risk category as the most crucial, followed by infrastructure, commercial, technical and operational, and context risks. However, when the transcripts were evaluated from a risk factor perspective, the context risk category unexpectedly jumped to first place. Twenty-five high-impact risk factors were isolated in the semi-structured interview contents. The top five most critical risk factors were political interference, no performance measurement baselines, an unfavorable private investment climate, nonpayment of bills, and water assets uncertain condition. The results comprise a fresh contribution to the existing knowledge about experts’ perceptions of PPP contract risks, including that prior research and specialists categorize financial risks as the most important. The findings further reveal that experts consider managing context risks to be the key factor in PPPs success in developing countries, as well as highlighting the need to explore these risks more fully in emerging economies’ water sectors. In addition, a complete risk management cycle is proposed based on the interviewed professionals’ opinions, in which risk assessment and risk treatment or mitigation measures are dealt with simultaneously.

A Study on Improving the Competency of Disaster Management in Nonprofit Sector

The purpose of this study is to suggest a direction for strengthening the competency of the non-profit sector, which plays an increasingly important role in the disaster management process. First of all, problems in the current public-private partnership were reviewed, and the direction of cooperative governance centered on the non-profit sector was presented. In addition, the study emphasized alternatives to strengthen the capabilities of volunteer organizations, which are representative non-profit organizations at disaster sites. Above all, disaster volunteer organizations need to secure a professional and differentiated status as a key decision-making stakeholder at disaster sites. As a result, the directions of change to strengthen the competency of the non-profit sector are organizational redesign through overall job analysis of the organization, securing expertise in disaster types occurring in the region, establishing one direction based on strategic planning. In addition, activation of communication to build trust with local residents and sophisticated decision-making and analysis skills will be required.

Critical Issues Affecting Dispute Resolution Practice in Infrastructure Public–Private Partnerships

Infrastructure public–private partnership (PPP) projects across the world have suffered early termination, premature change of ownership, cost and time overruns, among others, often resulting from a number of issues some of which are related to poorly managed dispute. Despite this, literature revealed that no process-centric attempt had been made to highlight the critical issues affecting dispute resolution (DR) in infrastructure PPPs. Through event sequence analysis (ESA) of 158 data sources (including 63 journal articles), this study examined the critical issues affecting infrastructure PPP DR practice, with the motivation of unveiling areas of potential improvement to the DR practice. Among other findings, the multiple roles of the public partner in the DR process were found to result in ambiguity on who was responsible for overseeing their actions. Relatedly, the effectiveness of dispute boards was on some occasions undermined when they were assigned multiple functions. Besides this study adding to the theoretical body of knowledge through application of ESA in infrastructure PPP DR research, it clarified the critical issues affecting current infrastructure PPP DR practice, thereby enhancing infrastructure PPP practitioners’ understanding of potential barriers to successful infrastructure PPP DR. Although the researchers acknowledge the plausibility of an in-depth investigation into ways in which the critical issues in DR practice can be addressed, the main focus of this study was to provide clarity on the critical issues affecting DR in infrastructure PPPs. A separate study focusing on improvements to DR in infrastructure PPPs is recommended.

Crisis Driven Literature in PPPs: A Network Analysis

COVID-19 crisis has simultaneously triggered a global economic crisis whose consequences will lead to a dichotomy where several governments’ debt has grown to unprecedented levels and simultaneously is required to promote new infrastructure supply. This global economic crisis scenario endangers current Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programs given their dependence on payment from the user and/or government subsidies in long-term lifecycles. This study aims for unravelling the PPP research agenda derived from the last global economic crisis in 2008 and the current one for understanding the trends developed as a tool for building a post-pandemic PPP research agenda. For understanding the last global financial crisis PPP literature review and its time and geographic evolution since 2008, this study developed a literature review employing Network Analysis. Therefore, crisis- and PPP-related keywords were combined for establishing the search in the Web of Science database. After removing duplicate papers, 67 peer-reviewed articles were identified for recognizing underpinning topics, potential gaps, and time evolution. The network analysis revealed seven clusters driven by payment sources (i.e., public financial aspects, user payments, and demand), contract mechanisms (i.e., contractual governance, and risk valuation), and project performance (i.e., project performance under crisis and project efficiency). This paper contributes to the PPP body of knowledge by unraveling the post-global economic crisis agenda and its gaps in proposing a new research agenda for overcoming the consequences of the global economic crisis derived from the COVD-19 pandemic.

Reimaging Public-Private Partnership Model as Hybrid: South Africa Viewpoint

As significant increases in the financing of infrastructure and other resources will still be required to bridge the current infrastructure gap experienced globally, alternatives to the standard PPP infrastructure project delivery models are constantly appraised in several nations. This research examined the viability of reframing Public Private Partnership (PPP) frameworks as hybrid PPP alliances (HPPPA), which would enhance current PPP practices and enable practitioners in South Africa to deliver PPP infrastructure projects more efficiently. The research adopted a two-pronged qualitative data collection approach, utilizing semi-structured interviews as well as case studies to obtain empirical evidence that was compared to secondary data on how PPP practices in South Africa can be enhanced. The research established that while the South African PPP legislations was adjudged as being suitable, the delivery framework was found to be highly costly and comprised of long approval processes.

Enhancing sustainability of Indian PPP procurement process using system dynamics model

PurposeIncreasingly adopted by various governments for infrastructure development, public-private partnerships (PPPs) have become a popular procurement delivery system, outperforming other systems. However, PPPs have been especially criticised due to the lack of sustainability aspect during the development and implementation of the projects. In India, similar critiques have been raised, as these qualities have inhibited the development of society and increased the time and cost overrun in the development of PPP projects. This paper, therefore, aims to address the sustainability issues in PPPs and systematically analyses from the perspective of the principles of sustainable development.Design/methodology/approachBased on literature review and focussed interviews with stakeholders in India, a qualitative system dynamics (SD) model using causal loop diagramming is developed to propose the inclusion of various strategies in the PPP procurement process, which can enhance the sustainability of the PPP process. Finally, the integration of these strategies in the current PPP procurement process has been highlighted in the form of the introduction of new mechanisms and policies and modification of the existing mechanism and procurement policies.FindingsThe paper first highlights key sustainability issues in the PPP procurement process and suggests 34 strategies to address the issues. The modelling approaches and the proposed strategies, along with their interrelationships, could help the PPP decision makers in implementing responsive policies in bringing sustainable development in the PPP procurement process.Research limitations/implicationsThe SD model developed is based on limited data, primarily focussed on PPP procurement practices in the context of infrastructure development in India. Developing the model with the analysis of a wider range of data and constructing a customised model can take broader perspectives into account.Social implicationsAdoption of the identified strategies can facilitate the inclusion of sustainability practices in the development of infrastructure projects, which are even procured using private finance.Originality/valueStudies on how to promote sustainable infrastructure development when procured through the PPP route are in the nascent stage. This study, therefore, extends the current body of knowledge on infrastructure projects implementation through PPPs from financial engineering and risk management to a sustainability perspective.

Un-sustainability issues in PPPs for Infrastructure Development of India: A Triple Bottom Line (TBL) perspective

The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) has been initiated by the Federal Government of India as one of its favored contract paths for infrastructure development. The primary focus of the PPP contract is on the economic and financial sustainability of the project. This results in giving more emphasis on the private sector's business interests and the tendency of financial aspects taking precedence over social and environmental aspects. Development of infrastructure through the PPP path, therefore, is concerned not to facilitate progress towards sustainable development goals, especially environmental and social aspects. The basic aim of this article is, thus, to conduct an empirical study of PPP practices for infrastructure development in India to evaluate key shortfalls of the practice from the perspective of the triple bottom line (TBL) goal for sustainable development. A grounded theory research approach through literature review and focused interviews was used to conduct an empirical analysis of PPP practices for infrastructure development in India. The study concluded that the current PPP practices for infrastructure development in India have failed to accomplish the goal of sustainability with the perspective of social, environmental, and economic dimensions for sustainable development. Finding from this study could be helpful to decision-makers and PPP transaction experts in formulating new approaches to increase the viability of PPP activities for infrastructure growth.

Assessing and allocating the financial viability risk factors in public-private partnership wastewater treatment plant projects

PurposeThis research investigates the financial viability risk factors that threaten the private investor's economic scheme in the public private partnership (PPP) wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) projects in Egypt. The aims of this study are to: (1) illustrate and cluster the financial viability risk factors in accordance with the PPP WWTP projects' nature, (2) assess the risk factors' criticality degrees according to their severity and frequency levels of the financial viability, and (3) pinpoint the suited allocation of the financial viability risk factors between the public and private parties.Design/methodology/approachRelying on the previous analysts' endeavors, the questionnaire method, the fuzzy synthetic evaluation approach and the hypothetical normal distribution curve model; the severity, frequency, criticality and allocation preference of 32 financial viability risk factors were assessed from 12 Egyptian PPP experts.FindingsThe data analysis yielded that foreign exchange risk, currency risk/inflation, license risk, construction cost-overrun and late site handover are the key factors in arising the financial viability risk issue in the PPP WWTP projects. Considering the discussion of these key risks, the study summarized that the financial viability's key risk factors are notably be affected by the economic, political and administrative circumstances of the host county. Additionally, the inflation lesion was found to be the core reason of most of the key risk factors.Originality/valueThis research originality stems from its contribution to address the gab in the PPP risk assessment literature of the concessionaire's financial viability in the WWTP projects in a country of developing economy as Egypt. This, first, enriches the scholarly based knowledge of the PPP projects' risk analysts of the developing countries. Accordingly, it moves the current PPP risk assessment research further to deeply apprehend these markets' risks. Second, it equips the policymakers in the public and private sectors of such projects with a map that clarifies their assigned risk factors and the responsibilities that each party should bear to generate a mutual stable investment environment for achieving their aims successfully. This, indeed, paves the way for more private investments to be involved in the developing markets' PPP projects with a profitable satisfactory level for the private concessionaire. In the same vein, more WWTP projects, which are highly needed for the public sector and its people, are executed.

Stakeholder perceptions of drivers for, and barriers to, the incorporation of sustainability in PPP infrastructure projects in Nigeria

PurposeAlthough several studies have been undertaken on sustainability within infrastructure projects, limited attention has paid to the drivers for, and the barriers to, the incorporation of sustainability in public–private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects through empirical study, particularly in Nigeria. Therefore, this study aims to identify and examine the drivers that promote sustainability in Nigerian PPP infrastructure projects and assess the barriers to the full integration of sustainability practices into current Nigerian PPP infrastructure projects.Design/methodology/approachPrimary data were collected using a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire survey was targeted on four different stakeholders’ organizations. They were public sector authorities, concessionaires, consultants and banks already undertaking PPP infrastructure projects in Lagos State, Nigeria. The obtained data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean score, standard deviation and the Kruskal–Wallis test.FindingsThe study identified 17 drivers that promote the incorporation of sustainability in PPP infrastructure projects. The analysis of the total ranking of the drivers in Nigeria revealed the top five ranked drivers to be: consideration of long-term performance; contractual arrangements; incentives for new market penetration; award criteria; and selection criteria, respectively. The study further identified 11 barriers to sustainability integration in PPP infrastructure projects and the top five ranked barriers in Nigeria are as follows: comprehensive sustainability procurement guidelines; no enabling environment; education needs; uncertain economic environment; and a lack of clear government policy, respectively. The results of the Kruskal–Wallis test conducted on both the 17 identified drivers for, and the 11 barriers to, the incorporation of sustainability in Nigerian PPP infrastructure projects revealed that there is no significant statistical difference in both rankings from the perceptions of the aforementioned four different respondents’ groups.Research limitations/implicationsThe study provides empirical insights on the knowledge and awareness of drivers which could lead to a greater uptake in sustainability measures by the stakeholders in Nigerian PPP projects; it also identified barriers to overcome.Originality/valueThe importance of the incorporation of sustainability in public procurement cannot be over-emphasized. It is anticipated that the study will be of great value to PPP stakeholders involved in sustainability decision-making processes when delivering sustainable PPP projects.

An investigation into the sustainability practices in PPP infrastructure projects: a case of Nigeria

PurposeIn the global construction industry, the concept of sustainability is not new, particularly within building projects. Against this backdrop, several studies have been conducted, mostly in developed countries, on sustainability in construction projects. However, efforts at investigating sustainability practices in public–private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in developing countries have received limited attention. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the incorporation of sustainability practices within the context of Nigeria’s PPP infrastructure projects.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey, which targeted four different types of stakeholders, was conducted in this study. These stakeholders included public sector authorities, concessionaires, consultants and banks undertaking PPP infrastructure projects in the Lagos State, Nigeria. The data collected were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean score, standard deviation (SD) analyses and the Kruskal–Wallis test.FindingsThe findings of this study revealed that all the respondents are very much aware of sustainability principles and the vast majority of the respondents from the public sector authorities and the consultant organizations confirmed that they have incorporated sustainability requirements into their bidding documents for PPP infrastructure projects. The study revealed sustainability features in the three aspects of sustainability, namely, economic, environmental and social factors. Furthermore, the study revealed the top three–ranked economic factors of sustainability (considered to be the most important factors) were low maintenance costs, whole life costing and supporting the local economy, respectively. Similarly, the study revealed the top three–ranked environmental factors of sustainability were biodiversity, energy use during the operation stage and energy use during the construction stage, respectively. Furthermore, the study further revealed that the top three–ranked social factors of sustainability were the educational aspect, equity between stakeholders and health and safety, respectively.Practical implicationsThe study will be of great value to PPP stakeholders involved in sustainability decision-making processes when delivering sustainable PPP projects, particularly in Nigeria. Also, the study’s findings are important as not many empirical studies have been conducted on the sustainability practices of current PPP projects in Nigeria.Originality/valueThe study’s findings would further inform the need for both the public and private sectors to take a more strategic approach to enhance sustainability in PPP projects.

Public–Private Partnerships in the Preservation of Presidential Records

The National Archives and Records Administration, in partnership with private support foundations, administers 13 individual presidential libraries comprising the Presidential Library System. These privately constructed, publicly supported archives not only preserve official presidential records but through their museum displays offer visitors a glimpse into the life and times of specific presidents. Utilizing legislation, archival documents, and elite interviews to characterize governance and administration structures of these relationships, this study outlines the nature of current public–private partnerships within the Presidential Library System, as well as the potential departure from existing frameworks for future partnerships absent formalized guidance procedures.

Developing a resilience-based adaptive co-management framework: public sectors’ insights on the role of tourism

ABSTRACT Public-private partnerships are essential to effective disaster response and recovery. Given their scare resources, it is neither efficient nor practical for governing bodies to bear the sole responsibility for maintaining an ever-ready disaster response infrastructure and workforce. While it is necessary and admirable for governments to improve their internal disaster response mechanisms, a community's resilience can also be enhanced by leveraging private entities and their assets. This study utilized the Adaptive co-management (ACM) framework to examine existing partnerships between emergency operations centers and the tourism industry in co-managing hurricane-related disasters. By utilizing group discussion and individual interviews, this study reveals the public sectors’ expectations of the tourism industry when partnering to co-manage disasters. The findings highlight theoretical and practical implications for current public-private partnerships and the need to improve these efforts in disaster management. Several critical deficiencies are identified and discussed, including interagency trust, financial support, and communication.

Research overview on public-private partnership (PPP) project supervision in the field of hydraulic engineering

As the public-private partnership(PPP) model widely used in the field of hydraulic engineering, the PPP project supervision is particularly important. This paper analyzes the current PPP project supervision and regulation, analyzes the PPP project supervision definition and theory, and summarizes the research progress of PPP project supervision in the field of hydraulic engineering from the perspectives of supervision content, supervision issues and supervision methods.On this basis, together with analyzing the present supervision situation and supervision research present situation of the PPP project in the field of our country hydraulic engineering, this paper explores the limitations of existing research results on the PPP project supervision in the field of hydraulic engineering, and puts forward several further researched areas.

Sustainable Performance Measurements for Public–Private Partnership Projects: Empirical Evidence from China

The world is witnessing a global momentum of public–private partnership (PPP) development, along with the inherent complexities associated with the long-term construction, operation, and maintenance periods of numerous PPP projects. Performance measurements for PPP projects are critical for ensuring stakeholders’ interests in a sustainable way, without scarifying future generations’ interests in terms of economic, environmental, and social sustainability. A system of five-dimension sustainable performance measurements for PPP projects is proposed in this study and a questionnaire survey was conducted to solicit professional opinions on its effectiveness based on current PPP practice in China. A total of 79 professionals with PPP working experiences in China participated in the survey, among which five were chosen for interviews to validate and deepen the understandings of the findings. It reveals that the five dimensions have essential impacts on current PPP practice in China, though with varying extent of importance. The private sector has developed a sense of achieving a long-term financial return, which might have indeterminate results on the benefits of end users. The increasing trend of sustainability concerns in the PPP project performance measurement is confirmed, and it is partially due to the central government’s “High-Quality Development” initiatives. This study contributes to the theoretical discussions of establishing sustainable performance measurements for PPP projects, and it has practical implications for the public sector to improve PPP project evaluation methods and incentive mechanisms, so as to promote project sustainability.

Public–private partnerships in Tanzanian affordable housing schemes

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify and rank policy and regulatory framework factors and inherent pitfalls in the delivery of Tanzanian public–private partnerships (PPPs) affordable housing schemes. The strength of interactions between pitfalls is established, with practical solution proposals offered.Design/methodology/approachPrimary data were collected from questionnaires administered to 28 Tanzanian stakeholders. Semi-structured interviews with public and private sector respondents then complemented survey findings with proposed solutions. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, mean scores, parametric tests and correlation analyses. Directed content analysis was used for the interview transcripts.FindingsResults show that “current PPP policy and guidelines need further improvement” and “Tanzania has a PPP policy and clear regulatory framework” were rated higher as policy and regulatory factors. In contrast, “poor planning skills and analytical capacity”, “high cost of building materials” and “inadequate access to housing finance” were the critical pitfalls. Most practical solutions were broadly financial in nature, or related to training, project management or PPP-enabling environment.Originality/valueThe paper provides solutions that can be tailored to international practitioners interested in understanding the effects of PPP policy, regulatory issues and pitfalls on Sub-Saharan Africa and other similar developing economies.

LIFECYCLE PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: A CASE STUDY IN CHINA’S WATER SECTOR

Numerous public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects have been operating in China after nearly 30 years of development. Surprisingly, few lessons and experiences have been drawn from these existing cases, thereby creating an urgent demand for a comprehensive evaluation of their performance. Thus, this paper presents a timely contribution to the assessment of a representative PPP project in China’s water sector, the Chengdu No. 6 Water Plant B Project, from a lifecycle perspective. Through a triangulation method, the project is generally deemed a success providing instructive lessons on the future evolutionary development of PPPs in China despite several imperfections caused by particular historical factors. Moreover, this paper advances the performance measurement of PPPs offering empirical insights to promote the efficacy of conceptual performance measurement frameworks. The outcomes of this research are especially valuable to the current Chinese PPP community where huge opportunities and challenges simultaneously exist.

Commitment and Business Performance of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) Enterprises in Bayelsa State

The prime aim of this study is to investigate the commitment and business performance of PPPS enterprises in Bayelsa state. To achieve such fit, the study critically looked at the behavioural disposition of host communities, the donor agencies and government towards influencing business performances of PPPs as perceived by people working in 3 case studies of PPP organizations in Bayelsa state. So the study examined the extent of relationship between the enabling PPP laws and business performance of various public private partnerships and the economic growth in Bayelsa state. In addition the study determined the extent of relationship between the political will and climate influences business performance of public private partnerships in Bayelsa state. Thus, a systematic approach of survey research design, quantitative method and a deductive approach were applied. Consequently, the target population of the study comprises 1,417 staff of Bayelsa Palm Ltd (BPL), Bayelsa Farms Ltd (BFL) Odi and Rural Access and Mobility Project (ORAMP) public private partnership enterprises all in Bayelsa state. Our sample size was 312 out of 1,417 using the proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Through the combination of the two methods of questionnaire and interview for data collections, we were able to double check results of the data gathered thus, prevailing over the biases that come with applying just a single method and increasing the validity of the results. Statistics Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) were applied to test hypotheses with Pearson Chi-Square statistics, z-test statistic and Chi-Square statistics to bring the significant relationship between two variables, this allows degree of freedom, level of significance and to give sufficient validity to the tested hypotheses. The result therefore, shows that indeed there is a significant relationship between enabling PPP laws and business performance of various public private partnerships and the economic growth in Bayelsa state. Also it suggests that both political will and climate has significant influences on business performance of PPP in Bayelsa state. In conclusion, the findings of the study reaffirm the role/magnitude played by PPPs towards influencing economic development in the state and indeed Nigeria. Understandably from the findings of the study, PPPs need to represent a unique domain of inter-personal relations of all stakeholders with an improved financial commitment with utmost level of agreements in pursuant of quality business performance and service delivery. Therefore, in order to capture a sustainable performance of PPPs in accelerating economic growth in Bayelsa State and its environs, it recommends the need for government and its private investors to conduct a proper consultation or carry out need assessment programs of host communities, state or nation before setting up and subsequent implementation of the project. This again will avoid the risk of allocation of financial resources but encourage financial structuring to the right project. Thus, it is expected for current and future PPPs schemes to review or have collective, workable legal frameworks addressing all issues raised by this study, that way PPPs will be utilized and seen as a signpost of economic growth in Bayelsa State. More so, adherence to the recommendations given on this study by government and its partners will of course bring to end of the perceived lackluster and lukewarm approach, performance and implementations of PPP in Bayelsa State. In order words, citizenries will not further see PPP as a conduit pipe to enrich private pocket. Thus, significant improvement will be recorded for PPPs to perform in order to bring sanity, trust of government, BOT and other stakeholders to redirect policies of PPPs as an innovative policy vehicle of economic development geared towards mitigating the lack of efficiency and enthusiasm in the public sector.

An Agent-Based Model of Flood Risk and Insurance

Flood risk emerges from the dynamic interaction between natural hazards and human vulnerability. Methods for the quantification of flood risk are well established, but tend to deal with human and economic vulnerability as being static or changing with an exogenously defined trend. In this paper we present an Agent-Based Model (ABM) developed to simulate the dynamical evolution of flood risk and vulnerability, and facilitate an investigation of insurance mechanism in London. The ABM has been developed to firstly allow an analysis of the vulnerability of homeowners to surface water flooding, which is one of the greatest short term climate risks in the UK with estimated annual costs of £1.3bn to £2.2bn. These costs have been estimated to increase by 60-220% over the next 50 years due to climate change and urbanisation. Vulnerability is influenced by homeowner’s decisions to move house and/or install measures to protect their properties from flooding. In particular, the ABM focuses on the role of flood insurance, simulating the current public-private partnership between the government and insurers in the UK, and the forthcoming re-insurance scheme Flood Re, designed as a roadmap to support the future affordability and availability of flood insurance. The ABM includes interaction between homeowners, sellers and buyers, an insurer, a local government and a developer. Detailed GIS and qualitative data of the London borough of Camden are used to represent an area at high risk of surface water flooding. The ABM highlights how future development can exacerbate current levels of surface water flood risk in Camden. Investment in flood protection measures are shown to be beneficial for reducing surface water flood risk. The Flood Re scheme is shown to achieve its aim of securing affordable flood insurance premiums, however, is placed under increasing pressure in the future as the risk of surface water flooding continues to increase.

Crafting an efficient bundle of property rights to determine the suitability of a Public‐Private Partnership: A new theoretical framework

A Public–Private Partnership (PPP) procurement mode is poised to play a leading role in delivering global infrastructure. However, there is no fundamental microeconomic framework to determine whether a project or part/s of a project is a suitable PPP. This paper presents the development of a new theoretical framework that overarches and harnesses the application and integration of prominent microeconomic theories, namely, transaction cost and resource-based theories, property rights theory and principal-agent theory, to explain how an efficient bundle of property rights, associated with externalised project activities, is configured or crafted. This novel framework is developed to contribute significantly to advancing the rigour and transparency of PPP selection, as well as advancing theory of the firm. In turn, this change in current PPP thinking would appreciably increase the prospect of PPPs efficiently addressing the substantial appetite for this mode of procurement.

Briefing: Public–private partnerships in the GCC: a changing landscape

A new law creating the legal framework for public–private partnerships in Dubai was issued by the Dubai government on 20 September 2015. It came into force in November 2015 and may well change the legal and financial structure of major projects across the Emirate. This is part of a growing trend in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries towards public–private partnership (PPP) structures as economies that have traditionally been dependent on oil revenue are looking to ensure greater economic productivity and diversification coupled with a more efficient management of risk. In this article the provisions of the new PPP law in Dubai and also the current PPP trends across the GCC region are considered in detail.