Business models for infrastructure financing

BENEFIT – Business Models for Enhancing Funding and Enabling Financing of Infrastructure In Transport

BENEFIT developed an innovative approach by analysing funding schemes within an inter-related system and depending on their Business Model (described by a governance model).

These were key elements in the transport infrastructure provision, operation and maintenance and the funding and financing schemes were analysed in this respect. This envisaging the transferability of findings with respect to the lessons learned, the limitations and the impact of the financial and economic crisis.

The BENEFIT project took stock of over twenty years of EC’s funded, national and international research and received direct inputs from the OMEGA Centre and COST Action TU1001. BENEFIT undertook an ex-ante analysis and assessment of transport investments and related funding schemes, including innovative procurements.

The BENEFIT project looked at infrastructure project delivery performance. Among various infrastructure project outcomes, it focused on four which are at the heart of the analysis of all major project stakeholders and which influence either directly or indirectly all other anticipated outcomes when a specific project is considered for financing (public or other): cost and time to (construction) completion and actual versus forecast traffic and revenues.

The BENEFIT project investigated and researched the conditions and factors leading to the achievement of the above four outcomes distinctively from one another and remained stakeholder neutral, as it did not assume the perspective of any project participant.

A key conclusion of the BENEFIT project was that transport infrastructure projects performance is rather independent from the financing scheme, as the conditions of improved performance were mostly related to the actual project characteristics and the competences of the involved parties, including in all cases the competence of the public contracting authority and the level of sharing of responsibility (risks) among the involved parties, also based on their ability to manage them.

While, the implementation context (i.e., macro-economic conditions, country competitiveness, supporting institutions) was beyond the control of project decision-makers (i.e., exogenous to the project), and might have significantly influenced the project performance, there were other actionable factors (i.e., endogenous to the project) that might have been influenced by them.

Each transport infrastructure mode was influenced differently by its implementation context and different combination of factors contributed in each case to achieving the respective target outcomes. The difference was primarily in the ability to fully endorse factors identified to support the achievement of the project outcomes.

On the basis of selected indicators and synthesis of findings, the BENEFIT project developed a rating system describing the likelihood of a project to achieve at a certain point of its life cycle the expected targets (i.e., cost and time to (construction) completion and actual versus forecast traffic and revenues).

Within the activities of the study, TRT led the research of the consortium to identify lessons learned.