Critical Success Factors in Public-Private Partnership Projects in an Emerging Economy: A Survey in Kazakhstan

Critical success factors (CSFs) in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the emerging economies of Central Asian countries are a fairly understudied topic. This study aims to investigate various CSFs and their impact on the successful implementation of PPP projects in Kazakhstan. Based on the brief review of the literature, we defined 24 CSFs and categorized them into five factor groups: political and governmental, financial and economic, social, consortium related, and project related. Using a standard 5-point Likert scale, we conducted a survey among PPP practitioners to reveal the most important success factors in Kazakhstani PPP projects. The experts emphasized the predominance of CSFs related to the political and government factor group. The top-ranked CSFs, common for both public and private sectors are political stability, favorable legal and regulatory framework, proper allocation and management of risks, transparent PPP mechanism, precise allocation of roles and responsibilities between the parties, political/government support, and clear project description and development of project documentation. Our findings contribute to the body of knowledge in investigating CSFs that favor PPPs in the context of emerging economies such as Kazakhstan, a country known for its pioneering efforts in establishing the first PPP market in Central Asia.