Factors Contributing to Successful Public Private Partnership Projects for Highway Projects in Indian Context
With the increasing interest in PPP there is a need to investigate the factors contributing to successful delivery of PPP projects. An empirical questionnaire survey was conducted in Gujarat (India) The survey respondents were asked to rate eighteen factors which contribute to delivering successful PPP projects. The findings from this survey were compared with the results achieved by Esther Cheung in a similar survey conducted in the Hong Kong and Australia. These top five success factors were therefore found to be important for contributing to successful PPP I. INTRODUCTION PPP projects can be dated as far back as the 1600s during the railway construction boom in the United Kingdom (14) PPP is a relatively modern term for this arrangement used only more commonly in the last decade. Previously different variations of the arrangement included Private Finance Initiative (PFI) which is a more familiar term to many people due to popular development in the United Kingdom during the early nineties (32) It would not be incorrect to say that the PFI practice developed in the United Kingdom raised the world's attention to this alternative option for delivering public infrastructure and services. PPP projects now account for about 15 and 8 percent of infrastructure spent in the United Kingdom and Australia respectively (Ernst and Young, 2005) Up to 2006, 794 PPP/PFI deals had already been signed. The combined capital value was approximately PS55 billion (National Audit Office, 2008) Amongst these projects almost 70% were in the health sector, and over 40% costing below PS10 million (2) However, it was asserted that PPP/PFI should be abolished for smaller projects and for information technology schemes (22) For delivering highway construction and building projects, PPP has been well practiced in many developed countries in Europe, America and Australia. The success and advantages of adopting PPP in these places have been documented precisely. But it is unfortunate that all of these PPP projects have not been equally successful. For countries that are new at adopting PPP it is very much important for them to identify the success factors in order to maximize the advantages of this method and to reduce the risks for all concerned parties. The findings presented in this paper are part of a PhD research thesis, Model for PPP in Highway Projects (Case study for Gujarat)