|
Module 05: Identifying Constraints
5.4 How to overcome existing constraints?
While the roles and responsibilities of the private and public sector
partners may differ depending on the type of project, the overall responsibility
of government does not change in a PPP. A PPP is one of a number of ways
to deliver public infrastructure and infrastructure services. It is not
a substitute for effective governance and decision-making by government,
which even in a PPP remains accountable for delivering services to the
public.
Nor does private involvement relieve the government of its
responsibility for ensuring that service providers take environmental
and social considerations into account. To fulfil their obligations in
this area, governments need to understand and respond to the needs of
users and affected populations.
User demand and public preferences, rather than the technical supply
of urban services, must drive service supply planning. Differentiated
or decentralised services may meet users’ needs more effectively
than traditional, centralised systems.
Education programmes may have to be undertaken to help users understand the
constraints on the system, the options for addressing those constraints and
the costs of different approaches to service delivery.
The development of clear rules for the partnership (that is, self-regulation
of the partnership) can improve partnership effectiveness in general, and partnership
regulation in particular. If they are to maximise their potential, internal
partnership agreements should define clearly:
– the activities of the partnership and its key objectives (which might
be formulated as coverage and service delivery targets);
– the roles and responsibilities of each partner, decision procedures and
– internal reporting; and
– arbitration mechanisms.
Such clarity would help the partnership in building its credibility vis-à-vis
the regulatory institutions and would increase its effectiveness.
Partnership dialogue gives politicians and other public officials (as
well as NGOs and other civil society actors) a better sense of what the
PPP involves and the constraints that both the public and private sectors
face. This may help temper both public pronouncements and community expectations.
Where social acceptance of PPPs can be generated, the arrangement is
more likely to achieve efficiency gains that should benefit all stakeholders.
End of Module 05
© 2004 UNDP, Manufactured
by Margraf Publishers GmbH, Germany |