CHAPTER 5 ANALYSIS
5.3 Urban Development under a Partnership between the Public and Private
5.3.1 The Private Sector ’ s Accessibility to Resources
5.3 Urban Development under a Partnership between the Public and
Thus, it may be necessary to seek the budget or resources from the non- government sector so that the locality will be able to drive the policy or large project on their own. Resources of the private sector probably help supplement limited resources of the public sector. Both parties may share resources with each other, or the private sector may invest in the budgeting, while the public sector may allow the private sector to use some public assets.
In the case of Khon Kaen city, city development was initiated by local people and local administrative organizations. Thereafter, Khon Kaen city development projects gained attention from the private sector, which further participated in driving Khon Kaen city’s development, while realizing the directions, opportunities, and limitations of city development with large-scale public transport system construction.
A key limitation involves the budget, as the people sector and local administrative organizations are unable to raise sufficient budget. Therefore, the private sector saw many opportunities from this public transport development, for instance, enhancing a good quality of life for the people in Khon Kaen city, reducing the use of private vehicles thus contributing to less traffic congestion and air pollution, gaining economic opportunities from more investment and employment, and so on.
Based on the concept of urban regimes, Khon Kaen city should be classified as a development regime which tried to change the social and economic pattern by means of private investment in a public action (Stone, 1993), and demanded change.
In this case, the private sector, in association with local administrative organizations and the people sector, proposed to seek the budget needed for investment in a large infrastructure construction project which had never taken place before, especially in a city of a province other than the capital. As for this investment, the private sector is confident in favorable changes. Accordingly, an in-depth analysis found that the Khon Kaen city development concept did not stimulate demand from the mass public.
Rather, the demand came from the privileged or elite groups in society, namely, media, local politicians, and business operators, all of whom cooperatively persuaded people in Khon Kaen city to get involved in planning their city’s development.
However, such cooperation has a component featuring key characteristics of urban regimes, that is to say, this cooperation consists of a partnership between the public
and private sectors which tries to share their own resources for the sake of the general public.
In addition, it is remarkable that the case of Khon Kaen city is different from other kinds of cooperation in Thailand, as this case started when the private sector provided assistance in driving the project in relation to the budget, personnel, and body of knowledge, without any request from the central government. Therefore, this case may use the budget from the private sector, while the public sector will share resources necessary for the city’s development project. According to the theory of urban regimes, the pubic sector tries to persuade the private sector to share their own resources for urban development and economic benefit (Stone, as cited in Ward, 1996). In contrast, in the case of Khon Kaen city, the private sector proposed to use their own resources, and asked the public sector to allow the private sector to use some public resources.
Nevertheless, although the LRT construction project will not be funded by a government budget at all, it does not mean that public resources acquired by the government budget will not be utilized, because this project still needs to use public assets, such as road surfaces or lands occupied by the public sector. Therefore, the use of public assets has to comply with regulations or laws stipulated by the public sector.
Related public authorities should not only take requirements of any one group of people into consideration, but also the overall benefits of people at large who engage in using public assets. In this regard, the LRT construction project will involve 2 main public assets, namely, highways and Ratchaphatsadu Land (State Land).
As for the first public asset, road surfaces, the Department of Highways is in charge of Mittraphap Road where the LRT Project Committee requested to use the road surfaces for construction and traffic operations. This would possibly affect the convenience and safety of general road users who may not be residents of Khon Kaen city because this road is a main route of the Northeast passing through several provinces and used by various people. Therefore, this is not only a specific matter for Khon Kaen Province, there could be impacts on other groups of people, too. Thus, the Department of Highways has to determine the conditions of the request to use road surfaces quite concisely in order to ensure convenience and safety for all road users,
including people in Khon Kaen city and other passersby from outside Khon Kaen city (The second representative of the public sector, personal communication, 2019).
The request to use Ratchaphatsadu Land should be no problem if there is no public authority located on the land. However, in the case of Khon Kaen city, the land for the LRT maintenance center and commercial development, as required by the LRT project, is not only Ratchaphatsadu Land under the supervision of the Treasury Department, but also the location of the Khon Kaen Rice Research Center. Thus, the request to use this land is not only a use of public assets, it also affects related pubic authorities and public officers in case of the relocation of their workplace due to changes in residence and commuting patterns. If the existing public authority agrees to move off the land after both parties are satisfied with the exchange, the Treasury Department will be able to allow local administrative organizations to utilize the land according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance (The third representative of the public sector, personal communication, 2019). The administration will be under the responsibility of Khon Kaen Transit System Co., Ltd.
Nonetheless, the permission to use Ratchaphatsadu Land given to public organizations and private organizations have different conditions. Normally, the Treasury Department would open bidding for those who are interested in requesting to use Ratchaphatsadu Land. However, in the case that public authorities, such as local administrative organizations, would like to use Ratchaphatsadu Land, the bidding could be exempted. Nonetheless, the land must not be utilized to generate commercial income (The third representative of the public sector, personal communication, 2019).
Therefore, considering the request to use Ratchaphatsadu Land for the LRT construction, the objective of the land use might be for commercial income purposes, because even though the said land is to be used as a maintenance center, the LRT project also aims to generate commercial income. If the project gains approval to use the land, the Treasury Department is supposed to review the criteria of the request to use that land.
The private sector, represented by local business operators, has been engaged in the Khon Kaen city development project, while providing assistance in formulating the operating plan in cooperation with local administrative organizations, supporting the budget, and seeking the budget for ensuring the continuity of the project. In
addition, 5 local administrative organizations have jointly implemented the Khon Kaen city development project via a private company hired by these 5 organizations, formulated the directions and policies, and controlled the operations of the company.
An analysis of the issue as mentioned above will be made in the following part.