PPPs and challenges for competition law and policy in ASEAN

Abstract

This paper studies the rising roles of private–public partnerships (PPPs) and potential challenges for competition law and policy in ASEAN infrastructures. The PPPs policy is established to serve the need for infrastructure development in ASEAN. Various infrastructure sectors in ASEAN are under the control of monopoly state enterprises. The usage of PPPs policy transforms the monopoly structure ASEAN infrastructure toward more market competition and liberalization. By this, the rise of PPPs is an important factor assisting effective market governance in coherence with the set objective of ASEAN competition law and policy. However, the rise of PPPs can also create difficulties in competition law and policy because private investors under PPPs can assume monopolistic power, which is a challenging issue in reframing competition law and policy for ASEAN infrastructure sectors. The paper presents some challenging concerns on the PPPs and the competition law and policy in ASEAN. Some case studies in ASEAN member countries provided an overview of the challenges. Policy implications are proposed to address the challenges.