As an important component underlying national economic activities, social overhead capital (SOC) used to be supplied, operated and managed by public agencies. However, by the early 1980s, as governments worldwide faced excessive financial deficits and...
As an important component underlying national economic activities, social overhead capital (SOC) used to be supplied, operated and managed by public agencies. However, by the early 1980s, as governments worldwide faced excessive financial deficits and debts, the private sector came to develop schemes to build, own and run SOC, turning out to be the matrix for the BOT(Build-Operate -Transfer)projects adopted since the 1990s. Likewise, domestically, as the size of economy grew in the early 1990s, SOCs including roads, railroads, harbors, airport facilities, power, water, sewage treatment facilities were in short supply, resulting in adverse effects like raising logistics cost and falling national competitiveness. Accordingly, on August 3, 1994, the government enacted the ‘Act on Public-Private Partnership in SOC,’ to attract private investment in public projects.
For the past 15 years since the public-private partnership was first introduced in SOC, domestic BOT has grown quantitatively. To be specific, back in 1994, the total investment in BOT was 120-million Won, or 0.18% of the total investment in SOC, whereas at the end of 2007, the figure reached 77-trillion Won, or 16% of the total investment in SOC. Nevertheless, BOT has thrown a dark shadow on national finance qualitatively, contrary to such a superficial growth, and given birth to an array of side effects to the extent of being denounced for a hotbed of corruption.
Meanwhile, most studies in the field focus on functional aspects such as risk management or measures to attain efficiency of private investment, whereas legal aspects, rights and obligations, legal disputes between parties involved in BOT, and solutions for problems arising in the course of carrying out BOT have drawn less attention.
Therefore, the present study reviews and analyzes judicial precedents regarding multiple legal disputes found in the legal system of public-private partnership in infrastructure, and further suggests measures for improving the problematic aspects found in running the partnership system. Such an attempt is significant in the sense that the legal system of public-private partnership in infrastructure is reviewed midway with a view to suggesting alternatives for further development of the system.
As such, the present study divides the discussion largely into three chapters. Chapter 1 deals with the general aspects of the public-private partnership in infrastructure, the history of the legal system regarding such partnerships, overseas cases of BOT, current targets and methods of the public-private partnerships in infra and the problems in running the system at home.
Chapter 2 is based on the general discussion in the previous chapter and develops it further to review the legal attributes of the current laws on private investment in public projects, the system for designation of partners, the agreements on project implementation, the rights of the private companies to manage and operate public projects and several legal issues municipalities face relevant to the legal system of public-private partnership in infra.
Chapter 3 categorizes problems found in running the public-private partnerships in infra projects in accordance with general procedures and stages into announcement and proposal of public projects, designation of preferred bidders and negotiation, construction, and management and operation to suggest applicable measures to correct or improve problems arising in each stage.