Public Management and the Mediation of Interests: A Case Study of Public-Private Partnership in Bangladesh

In recent years, public-private partnership (PPP) has emerged worldwide as a much used alternative for delivering public services. Bangladesh was slow in recognizing the benefits of adopting modern public management principles, although some elements have previously been introduced in isolation. Many of such efforts emphasized performance and privatization but did not show noticeable improvements in service outcomes. As the government struggled under financial constraints and demands for new or better infrastructure the idea of using public-private partnerships to drive the economy forward gained currency. Such arrangements, it was thought, could enhance considerably the capacity of the government, draw upon expertise available outside the public sector, and encourage growth of the private sector while fulfilling the needs for major physical infrastructure. In developing countries, one of the strongest attractions that PPPs have for policy-makers is their potential to leverage on the huge investment capacity of the private sector as well as its valuable human and technological resources. The government of Bangladesh was initially enthusiastic about the prospect of PPPs. The progress of implementing PPPs, however, has been affected by conflicts among different interests and the inability of the government to mediate between them. The case of the Khanpur Inland Container Terminal and the parallel development of Pangaon Container Terminal will be used to explore the nature of diverse interests influencing the decision and implementation of infrastructure projects under a PPP model and the challenges they create. The paper seeks to identify the factors that delayed the establishment of a container terminal and to enhance understanding of the complications and difficulties involved in the process of governing in developing countries.