The role of public private partnership in highway infrastructure development and sustainability in Nigeria

The Nigeria's highway infrastructure are currently being procured and maintained using the traditional Design, Bid Build (DBB) method. The procurement method and funding mechanism appeared not to have produced the desired result of timely and cost effective project outcome nor good quality and sustainable road network. This study set out to investigate the challenges being experienced in this traditional procurement method. The study also explored the features of Public Private Partnership (PPP) and its potentials as an alternative procurement method for highway development, operation and maintenance, including developing and validating PPP framework for application in highways in Nigeria.The study formulated two research questions - to investigate why the traditional method has not produced the desired result; and how the PPP method can play a role in achieving the desired highway project output. The research conducted literature review to examine the challenges of DBB method in Nigeria, and subsequently explored the concepts of PPP generally and its particular application in highways. The research philosophy is majorly interpretive with minor positivists blend in a methodological pluralism for methodology enhancement. The research used case study research design where quantitative method was first used to investigate the current highway projects performance in cost and time perspective under the DBB method. The research also used qualitative method to analyse official documents and questionnaires to conduct an in-depth analysis of the highway Performance Indicators and their Critical Success Factors under DBB and PPP methods.The comparative analysis of the research findings showed that the DBB method used for highway development in Nigeria generally results in cost and time overruns, low quality road network occasioned by the lack of adequate public financing, poor road maintenance management system, suboptimal risk sharing and lack of innovative processes, and inefficient procurement process. The findings also showed that PPP by way of its financial models, efficient procurement, operation and maintenance processes, technical and managerial capacities, as well as the bundling of design, construction and maintenance in a single contract package may produce timely, cost effective, good quality and sustainable highway network in Nigeria. The concomitant road sustainability will result in economic benefits of reduction in vehicle operating and maintenance costs, improved standard of road and longevity that support other economic activities. The resultant social sustainability benefits include reduction in accident rate, reduced travel hours, improvement in health and safety of road users. Environmental benefits of road sustainability include protection and enhancement of natural environment by reducing pollutants being generated from dilapidated roads. The findings were subjected to testing for validity, reliability and generalisability. The findings from data analysis were further processed to develop PPP framework for highways in the Nigeria. The framework was validated and the result of the validation showed that the framework is appropriate and applicable in the Nigeria environment.The framework developed in the research is a unique contribution to knowledge. It provides a holistic view, in a single pictorial display of interconnecting web relationships, the performances of both the DBB and PPP procurement methods, the possible enhancement of DBB method and the implementation procedure of PPP method for a sustainable highway infrastructure in Nigeria. The framework will be of benefits to policy makers and regulators such as PPP Unit of the Federal Ministry of Works as the operators of Nigeria's highways and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, the regulators of PPP scheme in the areas of decision making on alternative procurement options for highway projects, as well as adequate PPP governance. Other actors that will benefit from the study are the external consultants and contract managers being ngaged by FMW. Academic community and trainers will also benefit from the research, particularly as regards to the peculiarity of implementing PPP for sustainable highways in Nigeria. Accessibility to the research work will be made possible through publications in both local and international journals, and also presenting technical papers in workshops and conferences.