Challenges faced by public-private partnership in improving service delivery

Partnerships, of any kind, come with challenges and obstacles that might be a threat to the success of the vision they have. PPPs are faced with a lot of challenges when it comes to infrastructure delivery in South Africa and across the globe. Hence, the study was conducted to determine the challenges faced by Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the South Africa. The data in this paper was obtained from secondary and primary sources. 90 structured questionnaires were distributed to construction stakeholders in the public and private sectors, who were involved in the PPP’s projects in South Africa in the Gauteng province. 80 Questionnaires were brought back and were valid for use. The study revealed that: PPPs are inflexible; there is limited trust between public and private sector professionals; lack of sufficient time to implement PPPs; reduced control of public assets; conflict of interest between private and public sector; public acceptability; PPPs are not integrated into sector planning, lack of resources dedicated to fostering PPPs, a policy bias toward traditional public procurement and against PPPs, lack of fiscal imperative to use PPPs and policy on PPP changes with changes in political leadership, etc. The research has revealed that PPPs are lacking at the highest levels of leadership especially at governmental level. Also, PPPs must be favored in general, not in specific circumstances.