Tactical Conflict Prevention Strategies in Public-Private Partnerships: Lessons from Experts

Conflicts are frequent in public–private partnerships (PPP) due to the involvement of multidisciplined parties within the process. Individual parties among the numerous stakeholders often work toward achieving their own desired goals. Early identification and elimination of potential conflicts are significant to achieving a smooth delivery process of PPP projects. PPP offers imperative benefits for economic development, especially in developing countries. However, despite the huge potentials of PPP in infrastructure development, limited attention still exists in the early stage on the prevention of conflict. Aside from that, a more focused investigation is required across different locations. Therefore, this study aims to enhance the understanding of conflict occurrence and articulate steps to conflict prevention in PPPs through preconstruction stage practices. Expert interviews were carried out in two phases. Phase I identified the current process and triggers of conflicts and Phase 2 identified the strategies, and recommendations to eliminate the conflicts. The purposive sampling method was used for the selection of experts in Sri Lanka and findings were analyzed using the content analysis method. This study identified and categorized the triggers of conflicts in PPP as political interference and public interruption, lack of knowledge about PPP, contractual agreement, and commitment of professionals. Further, the strategies to prevent conflicts were discussed under key headings such as proper professional practice, use of lessons learned, thorough contract drafting, a well-defined program, precontract practices, project-long audits, awareness programs, and government support.