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item: http://hdl.handle.net/2134/7523

Title:  An investigation into the procurement of urban

infrastructure in developing countries
Authors:  Sohail, Muhammad
Keywords:  Public sector
Procurement
Infrastructure
Contracts
Third sector
Urban
Partnering
Micro-contracts
Benchmarking
Community
Developing
Issue Date:  1997
Publisher:  © Muhammad Sohail
Abstract:  The poor in urban areas of developing countries
suffer from inadequate tertiary (neighbourhood
level) urban infrastructure; water and
sanitation, solid waste, drainage, access
pavements, street lighting and community
buildings. Procurement of tertiary level
infrastructure is the responsibility of the public
sector. Rapid urbanisation is outstripping the
already lacking resources of public sector. The
involvement of private commercial sector in the
procurement is through the micro-contracts.
The term, 'micro-contracts', is proposed for the
small and medium size contracts. In some
cases a third sector like NGOs, CBOs and
community groups have also played roles in the
procurement of infrastructure. The processes,
roles, relationships and performance of micro-
contracts procured under routine and
community participated strategies were
explored with a view to promote the role of the
community in the procurement process. The
constraints to contract, relationship between
public sector and community groups and ways
to overcome those constraints were explored.
The contract contexts were taken from India,
Pakistan and Sri-Lanka. Both qualitative and
 quantitative techniques were used. A multiple
case study approach was adopted for the
research. During the research three hundred
and ninety contracts, more than a hundred
interviews and filed notes and more than two
hundred documents related to the micro-
contracts were reviewed and analysed. The
concept of benchmarking was adopted in
performance analysis. 'Community partnering'
is proposed as a procurement strategy to
facilitate the community to play different roles
parallel to the roles of Client, Engineer and
Contractor. The cost and benefits of community
partnering were discussed. It was concluded
that, for the similar conditions studied, the
community partnering between the urban public
sector and suitable urban communities is an
appropriate procurement strategy. The
recommendations include a number of actions
which could be taken to promote the
community role in urban infrastructure
procurement. Areas of future research are
proposed.
Description:  A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the award of
Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough
University.
URI:  http://hdl.handle.net/2134/7523
Appears in Collections: PhD Theses (Civil and Building Engineering)