Abstract:
Public private partnerships (PPPs) are not new kids on the block in the development area even though studies of PPPs have only emerged in the last decade. These studies believe that PPPs can be an alternative solution to problems in the provision of public goods and services caused by limited government financial resources. In the context of Indonesia, the increased popularity of PPPs has occurred in large part due to the vigorous efforts of international donors that have promoted the virtue of the scheme. This in turn has driven the government to pay much more attention to PPPs. At the present time, the government is focusing its attention on the application of PPPs in developing the infrastructure sector by choosing toll road projects as its priority. On a practical level it is not as easy to implement PPPs as studies suggest. Most PPP projects in the toll road sector stall during their implementation process or fail to achieve their initial targets, mostly because of a delayed land acquisition process. This research is intended to seek a better understanding of the relationship between the issue of land acquisition and the implementation of PPPs, especially in the toll road sector in Indonesia. My thesis will contribute to current studies of the connection between these two themes. So far, the work on land acquisition under PPP schemes has been dominated by engineering scientists, especially from the field of Civil Engineering, not social scientists. Therefore, the discourse on land acquisition in the context of PPPs is more concerned with the procedural aspect of land acquisition and the fact that it poses risks that should be considered by governments and the private sector. My findings suggest that the delay in land acquisition leading to the failure of implementation of PPPs in Indonesia has been caused by four factors: lack of financial resources, inappropriate allocation of risk, fragmentation of government institutions, and weak government. My findings also suggest the importance of finalising the land acquisition process prior to the government’s tendering of a PPP project to the private sector. This would prevent delays in the land acquisition process, thereby reducing harm to the land owners.
