According to their proponents, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) generate greater value for money than traditional procurement methods through private sub-contracting and risk-sharing, while still allowing for public control... [ view full abstract ]
According to their proponents, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) generate greater value for money than traditional procurement methods through private sub-contracting and risk-sharing, while still allowing for public control of projects. They are thus seen by some as a way to overcome the challenges of providing critical public infrastructure for governments overwhelmed by budget deficits, huge public debts, and citizen demand for improved service delivery.
Nevertheless, many PPP projects do not seem to have delivered the results they promised. Opponents, on the other hand, argue that total costs often turn out to be much greater than estimated; that the risks are seldom borne by the private partner; and that the democratic process often appears to be circumvented in the name of proposed efficiency gains.
In spite of the inconclusiveness of the PPP debate, it has become a preferred policy instrument for generating public infrastructure and public procurement mechanisms in both developed and developing countries. Governments therefore continue to use it for their national developmental agendas as a way to deal with the problem of insufficient public funds, especially in most developing countries.
The government of Ghana has developed a PPP policy framework as the policy instrument to build critical public infrastructure and improve service delivery. In June 2011 the government released a policy paper, titled the National Policy on Public Private Partnerships, to buttress its commitment to the PPP concept. This is the first time a government has developed a national policy to regulate the interface between the public and private sectors. The PPP policy is therefore supposed to initiate a new, improved approach to financing and generating critical public infrastructure through a collaborative effort with the private sector, instead of depending on the traditional sources of taxation and external loans.
In this paper we are interested in finding out if the new policy is a break from the past developmental trajectory of state-led development and creating a new path for future development. The aim is to understand: the circumstances that led to its development; the public’s capacity and readiness to adopt, implement, and potentially benefit from the use of PPPs.
This objective is important because under the NDC 1 (1992-2000), the private sector was not seen as a major player in national development and even the engine of growth it advocated. Similarly, under the NPP (2000-2008), there was the declaration of a “golden age of business,” but no purposive policy was created to foster a good relationship between the public and private sectors. Thus, with this new policy under the NDC 2 government, are we now witnessing a shift to concretise and create a needed space for the private and public sectors to effectively work together towards providing critical and badly needed public sector infrastructure? The policy is therefore seen as a particularly appropriate test case for PPP in developing countries, considering the high-profile nature of the undertaking, the close media scrutiny, and the richness of the data available.
