Developing sustainable relationships through public private people partnership (4p) projects

Abstract

Public Private Partnership (PPP) are sometimes used to procure public infrastructure, if deemed useful in mobilising private finance and expertise for generating innovations and enhanced ‘value’. However, when delivering desired ‘value’ to specific end-users, we should not neglect ‘overall value’ for the sustainable development of the parent community/society. To address such holistic issues in suitable broader-based projects, wider-ranging ‘Public Private People Partnership’ (4P) arrangements are proposed to invite and integrate contributions from societal stakeholders through relevant bodies, e.g. social enterprises, NGOs, academia and professional institutions. Selecting and integrating such stakeholders in a properly structured 4P procurement and operational framework can help formulate more widely acceptable and sustainable designs and mobilise more resources for procurement, construction, maintenance and operation of built assets. This will also help to address grass roots aspirations and concerns earlier, rather than try to resolve conflicts later. However, a major barrier to involving more stakeholders in already complex projects arises in managing their inputs, and relationships, while optimising outputs. Based on literature review and structured interviews, this paper presents pros and cons of using 4P in selected scenarios such as post-disaster reconstruction. Initial findings confirm that a 4P approach requires superior relationship management. This paper also draws on another study that highlighted the often neglected importance of relationship management in ‘traditional’ PPP projects. Combining these findings, a case is made for improving relationship management by mobilising the additional P (‘people’) to appropriate extents in selected PPP projects, so as to identify, prioritise and harmonise diverse stakeholder objectives and target optimal ‘overall value’ with sustainable relationships aimed at common goals.