Adopting non‐privately funded public‐private partnerships in maintenance projects: A case study in Hong Kong

• Published in: Engineering, construction, and architectural management construction, and architectural management, 2006-01, Vol.13 (2), p.186-200
• Main Authors: Ng, S Thomas, Wong, Yoki M W
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Case studies; Contractors; Efficiency; Engineers; Government; Infrastructure; Inspections; Maintenance contracts; Private sector; Public finance; Public private partnerships; Questionnaires; Studies; Supervision
• ISSN: 0969-9988; 1365-232X
• DOI: 10.1108/09699980610659634

The purpose of this paper is to establish whether public-private partnership (PPP) type of approach is suitable for maintenance schemes from the perspective of both the public agent and the service provider. Until recently, non-privately funded public-private partnerships have been adopted for the maintenance of infrastructure facilities. In this study, stakeholders involved in a trial of a non-privately funded public-private partnerships project were invited to express their opinions on the success and pitfalls of this type of scheme. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 12 management and front-line staff of the public and private partners to capture their opinions on the project. The results indicate that the non-privately funded PPP approach is more cost-effective and efficient in the delivery of maintenance services when compared with the traditional term contract. The performance-based payment mechanism adopted could help improve the quality of maintenance services performed by the contractor. The inspection and programming tasks are transferred to the service provider relieving the workload of the public agency.