PPP: The Right Marriage between Local Government and the Private Sector in Malaysia?

Public-Private Partnership has been employed in some local governments in Malaysia for some time in real estate development making local authorities a key player in the economic development of cities. However, little research exists on both the implementation of such projects and the evaluation of the governance procedures. This paper seeks to fill this gap by examining the working arrangement between selected local authorities and developers in striking a win-win situation. Towards this end, the paper examines the working arrangements between two local authorities and developers in Batu Pahat and Kuantan, as well as the subsequent postproject developments. The two cases in Kuantan exemplify successful partnerships that still exist while the third in Batu Pahat illustrates a failed partnership.