Developing a Project Success Index for Public–Private Partnership Projects in Developing Countries
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 23, Issue 4
Abstract
In recent years, public–private partnership (PPP) projects’ success has become an important issue for both practice and research because of the growing number of developing countries adopting the PPP policy. However, success means different things to different stakeholders, and most essentially success is an abstract conception. This paper therefore develops a pragmatic model to quantify the success of PPP projects in developing countries using a fuzzy synthetic evaluation method. The project success index model developed consists of three major critical success criteria groupings for PPP projects in developing countries; these include local development and disputes reduction, profit, cost, and technical specifications. Practitioners in developing countries can use the success index equation to determine the success levels of their projects in a more practical and objective manner. Additionally, the evaluation model makes it possible to compare the success levels of different PPP projects on the same basis for benchmarking purposes.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This paper forms part of a Ph.D. research project entitled “A Best Practice Framework for PPP Implementation for Infrastructure Development in Ghana,” from which other papers have been produced with different objectives/scopes but sharing the same background and methodology. The research project described is fully supported by the Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship Scheme from the Research Grants Council (RGC) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. The authors wish to express their sincere gratitude to all PPP practitioners and researchers in Ghana who participated in this research study.
References
Abdul-Aziz, A. R., and Kassim, J. P. S. (2011). “Objectives, success and failure factors of housing public-private partnerships in Malaysia.” Habitat Int., 35(1), 150–157.
Ahadzie, D. K., Proverbs, D. G., and Olomolaiye, P. O. (2008). “Critical success criteria for mass house building projects in developing countries.” Int. J. Project Manage., 26(6), 675–687.
Akintoye, A., Hardcastle, C., Beck, M., Chinyio, E., and Asenova, D. (2003). “Achieving best value in private finance initiative project procurement.” Constr. Manage. Econ., 21(5), 461–470.
Al-Tmeemy, S. M. H. M., Abdul-Rahman, H., and Harun, Z. (2011). “Future criteria for success of building projects in Malaysia.” Int. J. Project Manage., 29(3), 337–348.
Ameyaw, E. E., and Chan, A. P. (2013). “Identifying public-private partnership (PPP) risks in managing water supply projects in Ghana.” J. Facil. Manage., 11(2), 152–182.
Ameyaw, E. E., and Chan, A. P. (2015a). “Evaluation and ranking of risk factors in public-private partnership water supply projects in developing countries using fuzzy synthetic evaluation approach.” Expert Syst. Appl., 42(12), 5102–5116.
Ameyaw, E. E., and Chan, A. P. (2015b). “Risk allocation in public-private partnership water supply projects in Ghana.” Constr. Manage. Econ., 33(3), 187–208.
Ameyaw, E. E., Chan, A. P., Owusu-Manu, D. G., and Coleman, E. (2015). “A fuzzy model for evaluating risk impacts on variability between contract sum and final account in government-funded construction projects.” J. Facil. Manage., 13(1), 45–69.
Ashley, D. B., Lurie, C. S., and Jaselskis, E. J. (1987). “Determinants of construction project success.” Project Manage. J., 18(2), 69–79.
Askar, M., and Gab-Allah, A. (2002). “Problems facing parties involved in build operate, and transport projects in Egypt.” J. Manage. Eng., 173–178.
Babatunde, S. O., Opawole, A., and Akinsiku, O. E. (2012). “Critical success factors in public-private partnership (PPP) on infrastructure delivery in Nigeria.” J. Facil. Manage., 10(3), 212–225.
Babatunde, S. O., Perera, S., Zhou, L., and Udeaja, C. (2015). “Barriers to public private partnership projects in developing countries: A case of Nigeria.” Eng. Constr. Archit. Manage., 22(6), 669–691.
Baccarini, D. (1999). “The logical framework method for defining project success.” Project Manage. J., 30(4), 25–32.
Bhatia, B., and Gupta, N. (2006). Lifting constraints to public-private partnerships in South Asia, World Bank, Washington, DC.
Boussabaine, A. (2013). Cost planning of PFI and PPP building projects, Routledge, Abingdon, U.K.
Brown, T. A. (2015). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research, Guilford, New York.
Bryde, D. J., and Brown, D. (2005). “The influence of project performance measurement system on the success of a contract for maintaining motorways and trunk roads.” Project Manage. J., 35(4), 57–65.
Bryde, D. J., and Robinson, L. (2005). “Client versus contractor perspectives on project success criteria.” Int. J. Project Manage., 23(8), 622–629.
Chan, A. P., Lam, P. T., Chan, D. W., Cheung, E., and Ke, Y. (2009). “Drivers for adopting public private partnerships—Empirical comparison between China and Hong Kong special administrative region.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 1115–1124.
Chan, A. P., Lam, P. T., Chan, D. W., Cheung, E., and Ke, Y. (2010). “Critical success factors for PPPs in infrastructure developments: Chinese perspective.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 484–494.
Chan, A. P., Lam, P. T., Wen, Y., Ameyaw, E. E., Wang, S., and Ke, Y. (2014). “Cross-sectional analysis of critical risk factors for PPP water projects in China.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 21(1), 04014031.
Chan, A. P. C., and Chan, A. P. (2004). “Key performance indicators for measuring construction success.” Benchmarking Int. J., 11(2), 203–221.
Chan, A. P. C., Scott, D., and Lam, E. W. (2002). “Framework of success criteria for design/build projects.” J. Manage. Eng., 120–128.
Cheung, E., and Chan, A. (2011). “Risk factors of public-private partnership projects in China: Comparison between the water, power, and transportation sectors.” J. Urban Plann. Dev., 409–415.
Cheung, E., Chan, A. P., Lam, P. T., Chan, D. W., and Ke, Y. (2012a). “A comparative study of critical success factors for public private partnerships (PPP) between Mainland China and the Hong Kong special administrative region.” Facilities, 30(13/14), 647–666.
Cheung, E., Chan, A. P. C., and Kajewski, S. (2012b). “Factors contributing to successful public private partnership projects, comparing Hong Kong with Australia and the United Kingdom.” J. Facil. Manage., 10(1), 45–58.
Cheung, S. O., Tam, C. M., Ndekugri, I., and Harris, F. C. (2000). “Factors affecting client’s project dispute resolution satisfaction in Hong Kong.” Constr. Manage. Econ., 18(3), 281–294.
Cisse, H., Menon, N. M., Segger, M. C. C., and Nmehielle, V. O. (2013). The World Bank legal review, volume 5: Fostering development through opportunity, inclusion, and equity, World Bank, Washington, DC.
Cox, R. F., Issa, R. R. A., and Ahrens, D. (2003). “Management’s perception of key performance indicators for construction.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 142–151.
Dixon, T., Pottinger, G., and Jordan, A. (2005). “Lessons from the private finance initiative in the UK: Benefits, problems and critical success factors.” J. Property Investment Finance, 23(5), 412–423.
Dulaimi, M. F., Alhashemi, M., Ling, F. Y. Y., and Kumaraswamy, M. (2010). “The execution of public-private partnership projects in the UAE.” Constr. Manage. Econ., 28(4), 393–402.
Fang, D. P., Xie, F., Huang, X. Y., and Li, H. (2004). “Factor analysis-based studies on construction workplace safety management in China.” Int. J. Project Manage., 22(1), 43–49.
Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics, Sage, London.
Hsu, T. H., and Yang, T. S. (1997). “The application of fuzzy synthetic decision to the human resource management.” Fu Jen Manage. Rev., 4(2), 85–100.
Hu, Y., Chan, A. P., Le, Y., Xu, Y., and Shan, M. (2016). “Developing a program organization performance index for delivering construction megaprojects in China: Fuzzy synthetic evaluation analysis.” J. Manage. Eng., 05016007.
Ismail, S. (2013). “Critical success factors of public private partnership (PPP) implementation in Malaysia.” Asia-Pacific J. Bus. Administration, 5(1), 6–19.
Jamali, D. (2004). “Success and failure mechanisms of public private partnerships (PPPs) in developing countries: Insights from the Lebanese context.” Int. J. Public Sector Manage., 17(5), 414–430.
Jefferies, M. (2006). “Critical success factors of public private sector partnerships: A case study of the Sydney SuperDome.” Eng. Constr. Archit. Manage., 13(5), 451–462.
Jugdev, K., and Müller, R. (2005). “A retrospective look at our evolving understanding of project success.” Project Manage. J., 36(4), 19–31.
Ke, Y., Wang, S., Chan, A. P., and Cheung, E. (2011). “Understanding the risks in China’s PPP projects: Ranking of their probability and consequence.” Eng. Constr. Archit. Manage., 18(5), 481–496.
Lai, I. K. W., and Lam, F. K. S. (2010). “Perception of various performance criteria by stakeholders in the construction sector in Hong Kong.” Constr. Manage. Econ., 28(4), 377–391.
Lam, E. W., Chan, A. P., and Chan, D. W. (2008). “Determinants of successful design-build projects.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 333–341.
Lam, P., and Javed, A. (2015). “Comparative study on the use of output specifications for Australian and U.K. PPP/PFI projects.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil., 04014061.
Li, B. (2003). “Risk management of construction public private partner-ship projects.” Ph.D. thesis, Glasgow Caledonian Univ., Glasgow, U.K.
Li, B., Akintoye, A., Edwards, P., and Hardcastle, C. (2005a). “Perceptions of positive and negative factors influencing the attractiveness of PPP/PFI procurement for construction projects in the UK.” Eng. Constr. Archit. Manage., 12(2), 125–148.
Li, B., Akintoye, A., Edwards, P. J., and Hardcastle, C. (2005b). “Critical success factors for PPP/PFI projects in the UK construction industry.” Constr. Manage. Econ., 23(5), 459–471.
Lim, C. S., and Mohamed, M. Z. (1999). “Criteria of project success: An exploratory re-examination.” Int. J. Project Manage., 17(4), 243–248.
Lingard, H., and Rowlinson, S. (2006). “Letter to the editor.” Constr. Manage. Econ., 24(11), 1107–1109.
Liu, J., Li, Q., and Wang, Y. (2013). “Risk analysis in ultra-deep scientific drilling project—A fuzzy synthetic evaluation approach.” Int. J. Project Manage., 31(3), 449–458.
Liu, J., Love, P., Davis, P., Smith, J., and Regan, M. (2015). “Conceptual framework for the performance measurement of public-private partnerships.” J. Infrastruct. Syst, 04014023.
Liyanage, C., and Villalba-Romero, F. (2015). “Measuring success of PPP transport projects: A cross-case analysis of toll roads.” Transp. Rev., 35(2), 140–161.
Loxley, J. (2013). “Are public-private partnerships (PPPs) the answer to Africa’s infrastructure needs?” Rev. Afr. Political Economy, 40(137), 485–495.
Meng, X., Zhao, Q., and Shen, Q. (2011). “Critical success factors for transfer-operate-transfer urban water supply projects in China.” J. Manage. Eng., 243–251.
Mladenovic, G., Vajdic, N., Wundsch, B., and Temeljotov-Salaj, A. (2013). “Use of key performance indicators for PPP transport projects to meet stakeholders’ performance objectives.” Built Environ. Project Asset Manage., 3(2), 228–249.
MOFEP (Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning). (2011). National policy on public private partnerships, Government of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Norusis, M. J. (2008). SPSS 16.0 advanced statistical procedures companion, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Osei-Kyei, R., and Chan, A. P. C. (2015). “Developing transport infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa through public–private partnerships: Policy practice and implications.” Transport Rev., 36(2), 170–186.
Osei-Kyei, R., and Chan, A. P. C. (2017). “Implementation constraints in public-private partnership: Empirical comparison between developing and developed countries.” J. Facil. Manage., 15(1), 90–106.
Osei-Kyei, R., Chan, A. P. C., Javed, A. A., and Ameyaw, E. E. (2017). “Critical success criteria for public-private partnership projects: International experts’ opinion.” Int. J. Strategic Property Manage., 21(1), 87–100.
Osei-Kyei, R., Dansoh, A., and Ofori-Kuragu, J. K. (2014). “Reasons for adopting public-private partnership (PPP) for construction projects in Ghana.” Int. J. Constr. Manage., 14(4), 227–238.
Rosenau, M. D. (1984). Project management for engineers, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
Sadiq, R., and Rodriguez, M. J. (2004). “Fuzzy synthetic evaluation of disinfection by-products—A risk-based indexing system.” J. Environ. Manage., 73(1), 1–13.
SPSS [Computer software]. IBM, Armonk, NY.
Thomas, G., and Fernández, W. (2008). “Success in IT projects: A matter of definition?” Int. J. Project Manage., 26(7), 733–742.
Toor, R. S., and Ogunlana, S. O. (2010). “Beyond the ‘iron triangle’: Stakeholder perception of key performance indicators (KPIs) for large-scale public sector development projects.” Int. J. Project Manage., 28(3), 228–236.
Westerveld, E. (2003). “The project excellence model: Linking success criteria and critical success factors.” Int. J. Project Manage., 21(6), 411–418.
World Bank. (2014). Overcoming constraints to the financing of infrastructure: Success stories and lessons learned: Country, sector and project examples of overcoming constraints to the financing of infrastructure, World Bank, Washington, DC.
World Bank. (2015). “Private participation in infrastructure (PPI), regional snapshots.” ⟨http://ppi.worldbank.org/explore/ppi_exploreRegion.aspx?regionID=1⟩ (May 20, 2015).
World Bank, Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA), and Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF). (2009). Attracting investors to African public-private partnership: A project preparation guide, World Bank, Washington, DC.
Xu, Y., Chan, A. P. C., and Yeung, J. F. (2010a). “Developing a fuzzy risk allocation model for PPP projects in China.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 894–903.
Xu, Y., Yeung, J. F., Chan, A. P. C., Chan, D. W., Wang, S. Q., and Ke, Y. (2010b). “Developing a risk assessment model for PPP projects in China—A fuzzy synthetic evaluation approach.” Autom. Constr., 19(7), 929–943.
Yeung, J. F., Chan, A. P., and Chan, D. W. (2009). “Developing a performance index for relationship-based construction projects in Australia: Delphi study.” J. Manage. Eng., 59–68.
Yeung, J. F., Chan, A. P., Chan, D. W., and Li, L. K. (2007). “Development of a partnering performance index (PPI) for construction projects in Hong Kong: A Delphi study.” Constr. Manage. Econ., 25(12), 1219–1237.
Yuan, J., Zeng, A. Y., Skibniewski, M. J., and Li, Q. (2009). “Selection of performance objectives and key performance indicators in public-private partnerships projects to achieve value for money.” Constr. Manage. Econ., 27(3), 253–270.
Zhang, X. (2006a). “Factor analysis of public clients’ best-value objective in public-privately partnered infrastructure projects.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 956–965.
Zhang, X. (2006b). “Public clients’ best value perspectives of public private partnerships in infrastructure development.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 107–114.
Zhang, X. Q. (2005). “Critical success factors for public-private partnerships in infrastructure development.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 3–14.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 23 • Issue 4 • December 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 18, 2016
Accepted: Apr 12, 2017
Published online: Jul 13, 2017
Published in print: Dec 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Dec 13, 2017
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.