Towards an effective stakeholder management practice for public private partnerships an Australian experience

Many countries around the world are in search of new means to engage the private sector in managing and financing infrastructure through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). However, most of the PPPs have faced issues during design and concession period. When considering Australian context stakeholder related issues have been reported as one of the main issues in several instances. PPPs involve many stakeholders whose interests might not be in agreement and leading to conflicting objectives. In such situations Stakeholder Management (SM) has a high level of importance to avoid the conflicts and to achieve the success of projects. First this study has investigated the existing SM studies undertaken in relation to PPPs and some issues related to SM in PPPs through an extensive literature review. Then the SM related issues and some improvement measures to the existing practice were investigated through face to face interviews. The findings highlighted the necessity of a robust SM system for PPPs. Further political forces influencing infrastructure project decisions, weak relationship with the general public and lack of monitoring during the operational period are some emerging issues highlighted by a majority of stakeholders. Finally some recommendations were drawn to improve the existing SM practice in PPPs