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Authors: Xinning Wang, Imran Muhammad, Wai Hong Kan Tsui, Sophie Sturup
Keywords: value capture, transport planning, partnerships, public value management, China
Abstract: This paper explores the underlying reasons for partnerships among different stakeholders in transport value capture (VC) projects in China. Due to rapid urbanization and continuous economic growth, public transport infrastructure and services are in great demand and conventional government investment is not enough to extend the system. Therefore, various countries have been exploring innovative funding s for building public transport infrastructure. As public transport can increase property values, which need to be captured for building or extending transport infrastructure, therefore VC is increasingly becoming an alternative funding method to fund transport projects. However, VC comprises a complex policy process and uses various planning tools in developing working mechanisms among stakeholders, and this complex process needs to be explored. This paper uses theories of public value management and partnerships form a conceptual framework. Specifically, public value management theory provides guidance to ensure the public target is associated with sources of legitimacy (external environment) and capacity building (internal environment). Partnership theory helps the public sector develop relationships with private sectors and local communities that are ultimately beneficial for coordinating decision-making, and it advocates a proactive role of government, political will, and stable macro environment. Therefore, the conceptual framework identifies three types of partnerships that need to be investigated in the external and internal environments of VC: political-institutional partnership, financial partnership, and social partnership. Political-institutional partnership investigates how the political environment prepares policies and planning tools that help the public sector to take initiatives for value capture projects. The financial partnership explores how the public and private sectors perceive risks and responsibilities in value capture projects. Social partnership examines what role communication and trust play in improving local communities' understanding of value capture projects. By using publicly available data and semi-structured interviews, this paper employs a case study and explores VC in Lu Xiao Station of Chengdu’s metro system in China. The paper finds that local politicians play a vital role in advancing VC in Chengdu, through the local transit agency which is authorized by creating an institutional arrangement (a Leading Group) responsible for coordination and integration. The paper illustrates that goal alignment, resource and risk sharing, perceived benefit opportunities, and the support of stronger political power are crucial for building and sustaining financial partnerships. The paper reveals that Chengdu has only a weak mechanism for local community involvement that only includes consulting firms and a few experts in the decision-making process and ignores the public; however, it is likely that the public still trusts the local government. This paper concludes that all three domains of partnerships have useful roles in helping VC work in Chengdu, and it can provide some implications for other cities.