An analysis of the delivery challenges influencing public private partnership in housing projects: the case of Tazania

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is twofold; firstly, to identify and rank the challenges influencing the delivery of the Housing Public Private Partnership (HPPP) in Tanzania. Secondly, to suggest solutions in the form of a conceptual PPP framework model that will address the identified challenges and boost the chances of success.

Design/methodology/approach – Using a mixed method approach, data was collected from 28 stakeholders involved with HPPP projects in Tanzania using a hand-delivered and email survey and 13 semi-structured interviews with public and private sector respondents. The quantitative data included subjecting the 19 challenges as identified from the literature to descriptive statistics using ranking, frequencies analysis and parametric tests (t-tests), and qualitative data employed content analysis. Data from the questionnaire was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software.

Findings – The top five ranked challenges influencing the delivery of HPPP were: 1) "inadequate PPP skills and knowledge"; 2) "poor contracting and tendering documents"; 3) "inadequate project management"; 4) "inadequate legal framework"; and 5) "misinformation on financial capacity of private partners". The six lowest ranked and most significant challenges based on the t-tests were as follows: 1) “Poor risk allocation”; 2) “inexperienced private partner”; 3) “unequal qualification and contributions of expertise”; 4) “poor enabling environment to attract competent partners”; 5) “inadequate mechanisms for recovery of private investors’ capital”, and 6) “high costs in procuring PPP projects”. The qualitative study further confirmed the challenges and cited the reason for the failure of joint venture projects as lack of motivation for undertaking similar PPP projects. Despite the increased awareness of PPP projects and associated marginal benefits, the main impediment(s) to the uptake and delivery of PPP housing projects remained the lack of skills and expertise.
Research limitations / implications – The proposed framework model is not yet tested but since this paper is part of the ongoing research, the next stage involves the testing and validation of the model. Future studies could test the applicability of the proposed framework in other HPPP projects in Tanzania, and in other similar developing countries. Secondly, the validated framework can contribute towards addressing similar challenges as well as providing guidance.
Practical implications - The identified challenges were used to form the basis of the framework presented in this paper. Furthermore, these provide useful information thus leading to increased awareness to enable successful delivery of HPPP in Tanzania. Similarly, both the government and policy makers could use the findings as the basis for re-examining the existing PPP policy and regulations; and reflecting on the existing situation with a view to improving the delivery of future HPPP projects.

Originality/value – The empirical study is among the first that identifies and ranks the challenges of PPP for housing projects delivery within the Tanzanian context. The identification of the challenges enabled their ranking resulting in the mapping out of the most critical challenges. Furthermore, these constraints (challenges) as identified form the foundation for developing the PPP conceptual framework. The proposed framework would thus serve as a mechanism for providing practical solutions as well as reducing the level of severity of the identified challenges.