Barriers to the use of public-private partnerships for provision of public infrastructure in developing countries: A review

Public private partnerships (PPP) or Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) are the new age procurement strategy used by many governments across the world to provide the much needed world-class public services for their citizenry. The strategy emanated from the UK in 1992 and has spread across the entire globe though in varying degrees. Developing countries are still trying to find their feet under this procurement strategy, the reasons for this lethargy stems from a number of factors which though within the purview of these countries but has continued to elude them. Public private partnerships adoption is meant to curb sovereign debt burden, increase Value for Money (VFM) of constructed assets, manage the risks of time and cost overruns, improve the quality of the final product, improve efficiency of public services, assist in public sector reforms under the New Public Management (NPM), reduce project life-cycle costs, promote local economic growth, strengthen national infrastructure, hasten development and create a private sector-led economy. The above benefits are indeed novel however achieving them using this procurement strategy requires the fulfillment of a number of conditions; therefore it is the aim of this paper to highlight the barriers and conditions that must be met for this procurement strategy to thrive in developing countries.