Proposal

On

“Challenges and Opportunities in Waste Management Private Finance Initiatives in United Kingdom (England and Wales)”

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Research

The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) helps in creating public and private partnerships, in which private companies finance the building, design and maintenance of public infrastructure projects. In UK, this is the central method of across-the-board public investment. Since April 2009, 641 PFI projects' contracts have been signed between groups of private companies and public authorities billion (HM Treasury, 2009, pp. n.d). PFI projects were initially developed in Australia and UK, but, are now being adopted by many countries to maintain the accountability and efficiency of national governments and public spending (Barlow, et. al. 2010, pp. 51-55). These PFI projects are custom-made by every national department and works in almost every area of public service and the most important sectors include: defense, education, healthcare, and waste management. However, the issue of waste management has become a commercially, legally and technically a complex issue. Waste management does not only involve discarded materials, but it also involves waste disposal of by-products, inefficient use of raw materials, inefficient use of electricity, raw materials and water, inefficient treatment of waste, wasted labour and faulty products.

Problem Statement

The local authorities provide relatively very few services for waste management to the companies, which are not enough for answering their waste management obligations. Therefore, many companies need to contact a private waste management company for disposing off their waste, or settling their waste management obligations. This creates various challenges and opportunities in waste management for the Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) in United Kingdom. Particularly, the paper will discuss the challenges and opportunities in waste management for PFI in England and Wales.

Aims and Objectives

The study will revolve around the following main aims and objectives, which will also help in devising the research questions for the study:

Examine the current structure and barriers in the delivery of waste management PFI projects

Identify barriers and or enablers in the delivery of waste management PFI projects

Explore the risks associated with waste management PFI projects (e.g. changes in government policies, etc.)

Determine whether the PFI's provide Value for Money

Research Questions

The fundamental research questions, which are devised from the above stated aims and objectives of the study are stated below. These research questions will also help in structuring the literature review for this study.

What is the current structure and barriers in the delivery of waste management PFI projects in England and Wales?

What are the essential barriers or enablers in the delivery of waste management PFI projects in England and Wales?

What are the potential risks associated with waste management PFI projects?

Do PFI projects help in providing value for money?

Outline of the Study

The first chapter of the final dissertation will provide a background introduction to the topic including the problem statement, aims and objectives, research questions, and ethical considerations of the study. The second chapter will survey the contemporary academic literature in accordance with the research questions of the study. The third chapter will discuss the research design, research ...