Abstract
Infrastructure development (ID) is a major force behind progress in developing nations and a crucial enabler of productivity and long-term economic growth. The crucial element that might raise a nation's socioeconomic standards is the development of its infrastructure. In general, emerging nations have been constrained in their ability to build their infrastructure, and due to the increasingly competitive global environment, governments are seeking inventive ways to develop infrastructure. Increasingly, public-private partnerships (PPP) are being used to take advantage of and benefits that both the public and private sectors can offer. Namibia is no exception and so the government aspires to use PPPs as a tool to reach the country's objectives of infrastructure development. Hence, adopting a qualitative approach, this chapter intends to investigate the role of PPPs in infrastructure development and examine the part that PPPs perform in infrastructure development strategy and also provides a PPP strategic framework that can be utilized to guide future projects.
TopBackground
Hodge and Greve (2016) highlighted the potential of public-private partnerships (PPPs) to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public services. In such an arrangement, both the private and public sectors combine their resources to provide citizens with amenities and services. Collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors are becoming more common for the advancement of infrastructure and the provision of services to citizens. Moreover, both partners bring the necessary skills and capabilities to the table in such PPP arrangements (Baporikar, 2020). PPPs offer an advantageous solution, providing access to the expertise and resourcefulness of the private sector, as well as much-needed funding for public sector activities (Baporikar, 2022a; 2020a). In the 1990s, PPPs became ever more prevalent types of investment globally. As an alternative to full privatisation or public ownership alone, PPPs are increasingly relied upon to deliver public services. This joint approach is particularly beneficial when it comes to meeting the basic needs of all citizens and driving economic growth in a country.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Business: Pertains broadly to commercial, financial, and industrial activities.
Government: The organization, machinery, or agency through which a political unit exercises authority and performs functions and which is usually classified according to the distribution of power within it. It is a political system by which a body of people is administered and regulated.
Stakeholder: A person with an interest or concern in something, especially in an organization or institution. Stakeholder is a member of a type of organization or system in which as a member or participant seen as having an interest in its success.
Globalization: Worldwide integration and development, the process enabling financial and investment markets to operate internationally, largely as a result of deregulation and improved communications.
Management: Any act by an individual member on the behalf of a group, with the intent to get the group to better meet its goals. It includes acts or activities or process of looking after and making decisions about something.
Challenges: Something that by its nature or character serves as a call to make special effort, a demand to explain, justify, or difficulty in a undertaking that is stimulating to one engaged in it.
Policy: Refers to guidelines as issued by the governance.
Knowledge Exchange: The act, process, or an instance of exchanging acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation for and including general erudition creating, involving, using, or disseminating special knowledge or information.
Core Competences: Knowledge based technical and human abilities and skills.
Strategies: Method chosen and plans made to bring about a desired future, achievement of a goals or solutions to a problem. Strategies are a result of choices made. It is that set of managerial decisions and actions that determine the long term performance of a business enterprise.