INGENIEUR
Public Acceptance
In several projects, the Government faced
objections from the public who oppose
development on several grounds such as safety,
security, pollution and hazards. Quite often,
the public claims that they are not opposing
development but it should not be in their own
backyard.
For example in the Waste-to-Energy project
in Kuala Lumpur, a coalition of affected groups
protested as they claimed that incinerating waste
has many negative environmental, social and
health consequences (SM Idris, 2014).
Inter-department Co-ordination
There are many approvals needed by the company
throughout the Project implementation which
involve various federal, state or municipality
departments. Each department has certain
procedures to be followed in order to obtain
approval and needs time. This variety of needs will,
to a certain extent, delay project implementation
which may cause financial repercussions to the
proponent or the Government.
THE WAY FORWARD
In order to achieve Value for Money (VfM) in a PPP
project, the Government through UKAS as the
central agency for PPP, looks at the conceptual
level of the project by scrutinizing the Statement of
Needs (SoN) provided by the client agency and the
operations needed to achieve desired outcome.
In the development of brownfield projects via
PPP, some approaches to manage challenges
stated above are explained below:Unlocking Potential Value of Brownfield Land
The value of brownfield land is usually below
market value compared to greenfield land, even
within the same location. By virtue of technological
advancement in some industries, the brownfield
land can be reused and redeveloped, and
therefore offer higher value to the Government.
In the sewerage industry, for example, the
introduction of Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR)
technology has provided a cutting edge in
reducing the land size for a sewerage treatment
plant. By upgrading an existing STP using the
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MBR system, the plant has the capacity to serve a
higher population equivalent but with significantly
smaller size of the land area. Thus, the remaining
land not used as a treatment plant can be offered
to a private developer under a land swap method.
With higher value captured for brownfield land,
the Government can build more public purpose
projects where the initial capital expenditure will
be borne by the private sector.
Venturing into Greener Projects
In order to give better value of brownfield land, the
Government is also exploring greener projects on
brownfield land to encourage the private sector to
invest as well as provide a positive image to the
surrounding residents.
Projects with a renewable energy element
such as Waste-to-Energy (WtE) attract the interest
of the private sector. This involves harnessing
technical and technology innovation. For example,
the introduction of an incineration plant to treat
solid waste will reduce the need of building new
landfill facilities. An international tender on WtE
project in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur is expected to
reduce 85% of the volume of municipal solid waste
entering the landfill. Indirectly greener initiatives
can prolong the life cycle of existing landfills.
Green projects can also contribute to the
company’s revenue, and allow them to offer more
competitive rates to end users. Revenue can be
generated by selling electricity to Tenaga Nasional
Berhad at a higher rate, if the project falls under
the Feed-in-Tariff scheme under the Renewable
Energy Power Purchase Agreement or REPPA
(SEDA, 2015).
Centralized Working Platform
The PPP Committee is established by the
Government to strategize the planning and
implementation of PPP projects. This committee is
chaired by the Director-General of PPP Unit with its
permanent quorum members consisting of various
Government departments such as Ministry of
Finance, Economic Planning Unit, Department of
Director-General of Lands and Mines, AttorneyGeneral Chamber and Department of Valuation
and Property Services. Other Federal departments
and State Government representatives are also
invited to be part of the committee on a project
basis.