Factors affecting the cost performance of transport infrastructure projects

The research objective of this paper is to identify the key factors that affect the cost performance of all types of transport infrastructure projects. The method used is the fuzzy set QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS (fs QCA), which allows identifying combinations of factors that affect the cost performance. Results show that 30% of the projects, which are on cost, are explained by a good institutional context, a high ability to save costs, high revenue robustness, high transport market efficiency and acceptability and a mostly public financing scheme as core conditions, combined with good governance as peripheral condition. Also, 29% of the projects, which are over cost, are explained by an unfavourable financial-economic context and mostly a private financing scheme as core conditions, combined with inadequate governance as a peripheral condition. In the on-cost analysis, financing scheme and governance appear to be ‘positive’, while in the over-cost analysis, they appear to be ‘negative’, thus acting consistently and showing their importance, since they contribute respectively to the achievement or not of the cost target. These results can provide useful lessons to academics, practitioners, policy makers and all other stakeholders involved in transport infrastructure projects

Contract stability in European road infrastructure PPPs: how does governmental PPP support contribute to preventing contract renegotiation?

Abstract: In the last decade a considerable number of PPP contracts in Europe turned out to be instable and were renegotiated. This paper studies which combinations of conditions in terms of macro-level business environment and governmental PPP support and at project-level (remuneration scheme, risk allocation, project age and contract duration) contribute to avoid contract renegotiation, by conducting a qualitative comparative analysis of twenty five European road infrastructure projects. Results show that although the broader macro-level business environment has a clear contribution, contract stability can benefit from an availability-based remuneration scheme and a well-developed governmental PPP support in combination with other conditions