Shopping centres play important roles in the public rental housing estate system. They function as socio-economic mediums among local residents. According to Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA), the Hong Kong government (the government) provides rent supplements with local tenants to encourage them to develop their own businesses. As a result, local and small-scaled businesses have been developing steadily. Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) is a private-subsidized housing scheme implemented by HKHA. The sale of HOS‟s housing units is HKHA‟s major source of income. Yet, the government suspended HOS because of the financial crises broken out in 1997, which reduced HKHA‟s revenues dramatically. Despite the fact that the demand of rental public housing was increasing, HKHA had inadequate resources for public housing development. Thereupon, the government decided to privatize their assets (shopping centres, market stalls, cooked food stalls and car parks) by transferring them to a private sector – The Link Real Estate Investment Trust (The Link). Privatization is a common economic tool for governments that can increase revenues in a short period. Nonetheless, privatization has numerous negative impacts. Before privatization, the social and political parties had a hostile attitude towards privatization. They doubted whether The Link would change the existing business strategies and focus on profit maximization through increasing the rent from tenants unreasonably. Nevertheless, HKHA decided to privatize its assets in November 2005. The Link has been taking the overall management role in the privatized assets for almost 9 years. It has been criticized for over-emphasizing on business maximization by sacrificing public and social interests. This study is to discuss and evaluate the socio-economic impacts of privatization and The Link on the public estates. Questionnaires for the visitors and tenants, observations for the social events of The Link and searched for the news and annual reports of The Link had been carried out for evaluating the actual social and economic impacts from the daily operations of The Link. The results show that both of the positive and negative aspects of the social and economic impacts are caused by The Link after privatized the assets from HKHA. It is encouraged that the government and the service provider should review the effectiveness of the progress. In addition, those negative impacts which caused by privatization can be turned to be positive if the government and the private sectors work together on regular review and continuous improvements. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

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published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The world desperately seeks alternative fuels to eradicate its reliance upon unsustainable oil extraction; however, emerging biofuel technology is contingent on a more precious natural resource: water. Essential in all stages of biofuel production, including growing, processing, and refining oil feedstocks, water still represents a vital necessity for the surrounding population. This research assesses the immediate and long-term impacts of the expanding palm oil biodiesel industry on local water availability and privatized water management in San Pedro Sula, Honduras and the surrounding Sula Valley. Analyzing regional changes in water accessibility and quality caused by the palm oil commerce, the report also explores the reasons behind the impending water scarcity in San Pedo Sula. Finally, the study examines the potential consequences of these transforming water realities on future water provision as well as possible service adaptations required of the privatized company.

Reliable clean water supply and treated sewage are fundamental for human health and wellbeing. Water scarcity becomes a discussing concern due to the unfair distribution of resources and different amount of precipitation in some parts of the earth. Although water-related issues are highly influenced by climate changes, there are always various mismanagements of human kind in local scale which totally affects the natural water cycle. Therefore, an urban water system and how this system copes with the natural and built environment are going to be studied in this research. Reviewing the urban management and decision making process inIran, privatization and its prerequisites is the main backbone of this thesis. The central region ofIran,Yazd, has been selected as the case study. This water-stressed area is located on desert margins which water plays a key role in every new and existing development. Along with studying vulnerability of urban water system in this area, the potential risks and crisis would be pointed out. Finally, the analysis and discussion to the current of water sector’s situation based on previous experiences have been presented.

This study investigates the Indonesian experience in managing the privatization of State Controlled Enterprises (SCEs) during the period from 1983 to 1993. The main objective of this study is to assess and explore the following research question: Why has there been little ownership transfer from state to the private sector in Indonesia even though official policy objectives and strategies for proving SCEs have been articulated and firms have been selected for potential privatization? Realizing complex combination of challenges and obstacles faced by Indonesia, attempts to answer the research question are directed at three main issues: (1) the role of SCEs in the overall national economy; (2) factors that led the Indonesian government to undertake privatization policy, and (3) the preferred models of privatization along with the rationale for such preferences. / Five types of data were collected during three separate field work stages from July 1991 to October 1995: State policy analysis, direct observation, analysis of the statistical data, analysis of mass media and personal interviews with key individuals. This triangulation method is employed to ensure a greater presentation of the key elements that deserve to be explored. / The principal argument developed throughout this study is that despite the apparent needs for privatization due to the fiscal difficulties and inefficiencies of the SCEs operations, the Indonesian state seems to be reluctant to transfer ownership to the private sector. In the case at hand, the pursuit of privatization is largely a political decision. Transferring ownership would require an overhaul of the present development policy, a huge step that Indonesian state is not ready to take. Instead, the priority has been given to reform the state sector by improving the efficiency and productivity of SCEs operations, and by isolating SCEs from the rent seeking behaviours of government bureaucrats. This tendency, as this study demonstrates, is explained by a deepening direct state involvement in the economy. This study shows that the Indonesian state has expanded its roles in the economy to include not only regulator, facilitator and stabilizer, but also that direct participant as a competitor to the private sector. Consequently, being kept under tight state control, has caused Indonesian SCEs to operate in a highly regulated environment. This environment has resulted in SCEs tendency to become instrument of development and, therefore has prevented them from becoming efficient and productive business entities.

Urban and regional planning, from a professional standpoint, is built on a history of preservation, with the backdrop of a perennial quest to define itself for the benefit of both laypeople and its own members. Consequently, different stages of planning throughout the twentieth century relate to simultaneous cultural changes that have caused the re-definition and re-focusing of professional efforts. From the original concentration on rational thought that coincided with the planner as objective expert with the ability to identify and promote the public interest, to the civil rights movement of the late twentieth century that embodied postmodern ideas such as advocacy, collaboration, and communication, the concept of who the planner is and what role he or she plays has developed over time. In parallel, the structures planners use to deliver their services have altered. While the shift from the traditional concept of the public sector to quasi-public and private applications has been well documented, the structures of the twenty-first century such as multinationals, public-private partnerships, and multi-disciplinary arrangements are less studied and understood. Multi-disciplinary practices (MDPs), in particular, garner little attention from the academic or professional planning spheres. While the legal and accounting professions are scrambling for a clear policy direction on cross-discipline collaboration, planners do not seem to have diverted much attention to whether or not they have a future. Indeed, the existence of MDPs provokes the return of the question of what role planners should play, and whether they should be a distinct specialized profession, or an entity with a mandate to coordinate other professions with an eye to long-term planning for the public good. This analysis attempts to qualitatively assess whether MDPs should be supported or rejected by the planning discipline, and how the profession should be addressing the answer. / Thesis (Master, Urban & Regional Planning) -- Queen's University, 2007-09-28 11:25:12.401

If the privatization of space telecommunications, because of its impacts, has been subject to various studies, this thesis focuses the analysis of this phenomenon on a particular point: its implications on international organizations. / Because of the evolution of the sector, international satellite organizations have undertaken for around ten years several internal reforms that lead today to the privatization of the three major organizations: Intelsat, Inmarsat and Eutelsat. These transformations constitute a particular sensitive issue as these organizations have been initially established so that to exploit satellite systems for the general interest of their members. / The impact of this phenomenon is no less considerable on the ITU, in charge of the international regulation, from a regulatory but also structural point of view. Moreover, the liberalization of telecommunication market undertaken under the aegis of the WTO grants to this organization a new major place in space telecommunication regulation.