Is there a need for public private partnership projects in Singapore?

Abstract

The concept of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) was introduced to Singapore in 2003. Although there was much hype about what it could accomplish in Singapore in the early days, so far only nine projects have been successfully procured as PPPs. Notably, five of these projects are in the area of building physical infrastructure facilities. Two of the projects are in the area of Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. The remaining two projecrs deal with teh construction of defence facilities. In recent times, several projects initially considered for development as PPPs have been procured following the more traditional methods such as design & build. Despite this lukewarm development in PPPs in Singapore, this paper argues that PPPs remains a procurement method that is viable for development of public infrastructure facilities. The paper examines the key barriers that have contributed to the slow progress made thus far, and what policy and institutional changes are necessary to make PPP a success story in Singapore. The analysis presented and the conclusions reached in this paper are based on a study of the exiting literature and policy architecture.