Capacity Building and Sustainability of Build Operate Transfer Projects: a Case of Nairobi Expressway, Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

There exists a number of Public Private Partnership(PPP) models. Among them is the popular Build-operate-transfer(BOT), that is used to finance public sector infrastructure development and service delivery. PPPs in the Kenyan road sector are continuing to grow, thus county governments, contractors, and managers will need advice on how to apply them successfully. Capacity building in project management and the implementation of build-operate-transfer projects is a complicated activity that requires the involvement and participation of several stakeholders. Project execution must be effective and efficient in order to be sustainable. The primary goal of this research project was to look into how capacity building influences the sustainability of build-operate-transfer projects in developing countries, specifically utilizing the Nairobi expressway in Nairobi County, Kenya. The main objectives of the study were to establish the influence of capacity needs assessment on the sustainability of BOT projects, to examine how public participation affects the sustainability of BOT projects, to ascertain what impact leadership base has on sustainability of BOT projects, and to evaluate how individual skills influence sustainability of BOT projects. The intervening variables in the study included government policy, community culture and attitude, political goodwill and legal framework. The study was based on Allan Kaplan’s theory of capacity building and Dr. Edward Freeman’s stakeholder theory. Kaplan saw capacity development as requiring a paradigm change, defining it as an essential and pervasive notion with little cohesive or collective appreciation, either for theory or practice. The stakeholder theory, on the other hand, contended that shareholders are just one of many persons who own stock in a corporation. It was thought that a stakeholder ecosystem included anybody who is interested in, involved in, or influenced by the firm, such as workers, the working environment, dealers, government organizations, among others. The study adopted a quantitative research approach. A total of 180 respondents were chosen using simple random sampling, 170 of whom were employees of the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), the directorate of PPP staff, staff of the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), as well as 10 consultant staff. Data collection was achieved using questionnaires. Data was then analyzed through the SPSS statistical software