Title: Government special purpose vehicles for public-private partnerships: stuck on the slow train in Khon Kaen City

Authors: Sirisak Laochankham; Bruce Gilley; Peerasit Kamnuansilpa

Addresses: College of Local Administration, Khon Kaen University, Thailand ' Mark O. Hatfield School of Government, Portland State University, USA ' College of Local Administration, Khon Kaen University, Thailand

Abstract: Although public-private partnerships have been touted as a strategy to expand infrastructure and service provision, they have yet to be widely used in developing countries, particularly in a country with a highly centralised government like Thailand. Capitalising on a national policy for the development of smart cities in Thailand, key business and community leaders in Khon Kaen worked to embrace the government special purpose vehicle (GSPV) concept in order to construct a light rail train (LRT). This study shows the potential as well as pitfalls of the GSPV model, which despite its promise has failed to hasten completion of the proposed Khon Kaen LRT. Recommendations and lessons learned for similar developing country contexts follow.

Keywords: public-private partnerships; PPPs; private sector development; public services provision; infrastructure investment; development agencies; Khon Kaen model; Thailand.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPSPM.2024.137195

International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management, 2024 Vol.13 No.2, pp.275 - 287

Received: 04 May 2020
Accepted: 21 Dec 2020
Published online: 05 Mar 2024 *

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