The Critical Success Factors Of Housing PPP In Developing Countries And Challenges For Its Implementation In Cameroon

Solving housing deficit and improving the affordability of housing units in developing countries is now one of the main discussion topics for governments and researchers as the populations in these parts of the world are increasing drastically without any significant increase in their per capita GDP.Cameroon is one of many developing countries suffering from this housing crisis and is attempting to introduce Public Private Partnerships(PPP)as one of its Project Financing methods for housing projects.Although this method known as Housing PPP has already been attempted in many developing countries for many years and has proven to be a complex yet successful solution to such housing crisis,however,Cameroon hasn't successfully implemented or delivered any such project till date.The present study therefore aimed at reviewing the Critical Success Factors(CSF)of Housing PPP projects in Developing Countries over the last decade as well as investigating the Implementation Challenges of Housing PPP in Cameroon.Suggestions are therefore being proposed.This paper combines extensive literature reviews and case studies coupled with semi-structured interview methodologies.12 papers on CSFs of Housing PPP were meticulously selected among many other publications on CSF to conduct the Review and point out the most common CSFs affecting the delivery of Housing PPP projects in developing countries.Items reviewed include: Most common publishing Journals,annual number of publications on Housing PPP CSFs,Housing PPP CSFs publications by country,contributing researchers by country and research methods adopted for CSFs studies in Housing PPP.A cumulative table of CSFs is later drafted to identify the most commonly cited CSFs of Housing PPP.A Cross-Comparative Analysis was also conducted to compare the CSF trends in the selected countries.In order to investigate the implementation challenges of housing PPP in Cameroon,semi-structured interviews were administered to some professionals of the construction and real estate sectors who are potential Housing PPP project stakeholders;and a short survey was later conducted to rank these challenges.Results revealed that the top 3 most common CSFs of Housing PPP in developing countries are “Political Influence and Government Support”,“Availability of Suitable Financial Market” and “Competition in procurement process”.Similarly,the top 3 implementation challenges of Housing PPP in Cameroon based on Interviewee perception are “Lack of experience and knowledge of Housing PPP by both public and private sectors”,“Poor access to Financial Market” and “Slow decision making by public PPP unit”.The study shows the clear relationship between CSFs and Challenges of Housing PPP and corresponding suggestions on developing Housing PPP are proposed.These can be a good tool for both the public and private investors in identifying where exactly efforts should be concentrated to ensure the success of projects.