Institutional issues related to project governance of infrastructure PPP projects in India

摘要

Public Private Partnerships have gained popularity as a mode of delivery for infrastructure projects in India. The institutional contexts surrounding these projects constrain or enable the smooth execution of these projects. In this article, we explore the key capabilities that need to be present in the institutional environments surrounding the projects - clear rationale, legitimacy, political willingness, advocacy, predictability and commitment in decision making and capacity to develop and monitor projects - which can be developed through a variety of institutional forms and actions. We then assess the institutional environment in the state of Tamil Nadu in India, in terms of these key capabilities and examine 6 PPP project case studies in the light of this capabilities framework. We focus on the impacts of the various capabilities on the PPP infrastructure projects. Based on this empirical evidence, we conclude that the gaps in institutional environment surrounding a PPP project can cause significant governance issues in projects and actions of the project proponent's aim at filling out these gaps in the environment to tackle these issues. The paper contributes to our understanding of the impact of institutional environments on the governance of PPP infrastructure projects.