Public policy and projects: impact of intranational jurisdictional concurrency on construction disputes

Without conclusive settlement of disputes, uses of public sector infrastructure projects as public policy instruments might risk impeachment. With this in mind, we set out in this study to explore how public policy impacts the finality of dispute resolutions conducted within public sector infrastructure project spaces. We used empirical data obtained from opinion coding of 220 decided disputes conducted in the United Arab Emirates between 1992 and 2018. Findings suggest differences in attitude among the courts in the United Arab Emirates in the interpretation and application of public policy as a basis for nullifying arbitral awards. This finding suggests that the existence of a series of parallel courts, a mixed legal jurisdiction, and multiple and concurrent intranational laws, combined with the intractable nature of public policy, can significantly impact the conclusive settlement of public sector infrastructure project disputes.