Challenges in adoption of public private partnerships for south african infrastructure development

Abstract

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) arrangements have proved to play a key role in the enhancement of the infrastructure development globally. South Africa’s adaptation of PPPs strategies in infrastructure development, allows the government and private sector to work together in the delivery of much-needed public infrastructure services. This paper aims to summarise the views of professionals in South Africa's public-private partnerships (PPPs) platform on significant challenges facing the market for PPPs or policy framework in South Africa, concerning the challenges and how can we approach them. To achieve the aim of this paper, both primary and secondary data was sourced. The secondary data was sourced through an in-depth review of the literature. Quantitative method was used to source secondary data; the data collected using a structured questionnaire. The sample of 50 respondents was approached to partake in a study, respondents included built-environment professionals from both the public and private sector who are knowledgeable about PPPs. 34 of the 50 completed and returned questionnaires (a response rate of 68%). Following analysing the data received, the findings revealed that PPPs is a feasible option to enhance the delivery of infrastructure in South Africa; however, the government is reluctant to partner with private sector. Findings further revealed that the main factors hindering the growth of PPPs utilisation in South Africa is lack of PPPs awareness and insufficient research on the PPPs model. Besides, skills shortage, policy bias toward traditional public procurement, tuning of municipal PPPs legislation besides capacity constraints were also found to be a problem. This research calls out to the infrastructure development entities to pay particular attention to skills development in both public and private sectors, in order to have capacity and ability to adopt PPPs model in infrastructure development and have equal responsibility in ensuring that PPPs are advanced accordingly. Moreover, expedite constructive discussions on the challenges addressed and jointly develop robust solutions.