Category: News

Aug 5, 2016

The 14th Annual World Conference on Transport Research was held in Shanghai, China, July 10-15. The Center’s work was featured in poster presentations that were based on two research papers: “The Governance of Surface Transportation in the 21st Century: VDOT Institutional Responses to Environmental Changes” by Jonathan Gifford, Lisardo Bolaños, Nobuhiko Daito, Morghan Transue and Jeong Yun Kweun and “Evaluating Highway Public-Private Partnerships: Evidence from U.S. Value for Money Studies” by Jeong Yun Kweun, Porter K. Wheeler, and Jonathan L. Gifford.

The first paper highlights that technology, procurement, and management innovations offer ways to address deteriorating infrastructure, increased urban traffic, and tighter budgets. Decreased control over performance increases internal opposition and makes the organization vulnerable to external opposition.  To take advantage of innovations, new core competencies are needed, including contract management and public engagement. The second paper investigates the state of practice in the use of value for money (VfM) analysis of highway public-private partnership (P3) projects in the United States.

For more information about the conference please visit http://wctrs-conference.com/.

Dr. Jonathan Gifford was asked to join the International  Transport Forum (ITF)/Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Private Investment in Infrastructure: Infrastructure Risk Treatment and Moving Beyond the PPP Working Group.  Mr. Stephen Alchin from Infrastructure Australia will serve as chair. The group consists of industry experts from across the globe and they plan to investigate how risk should be treated in private participation models in infrastructure or public procurement in general.

Just a few of the key issues they will examine include examples of inefficient risk pricing in P3s,  the comparative perspective of risk pricing in regulated concessions vs. privatizations, perceptions about risks and the distinction between risk and uncertainty, and whether the risk that’s often transferred by the public sector manageable.

June 2, 2016 – This spring Vinh Mai, a George Mason undergraduate and Center Research Associate, received a research scholarship from Mason’s Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities and Research (OSCAR). Vinh explored how to make public-private partnership (P3) highway projects in developing countries bankable and attractive to world-class infrastructure investors. He discovered that creating an efficient and clear risk-sharing mechanism is the key and focused his research on developing a risk management framework, combining different risk identification approaches, and exploring the literature on risk-sharing preferences between public and private parties. His research culminated in a presentation he gave at the the George Mason Undergraduate Research Symposium at the Center for Art in May.

June 1, 2016 – In mid-May Vinh Mai, a Research Associate with the Center, started as an intern at CG/LA Infrastructure Group, a Washington DC based consulting firm specializing in solving the global infrastructure investment gap. As an  Infrastructure Projects Research Intern, he will examine the US infrastructure market, focusing specifically on CG/LA’s US Infrastructure Market Blueprint 2025. Vinh expects to finish his internship this August.

April 27, 2016 –  Lisardo Bolaños collaborated with the Guatemalan Association of Non-Traditional Exporters in presenting their Roadmap to increase Guatemalan manufacturing exports.  Reducing the time and cost of domestic and international transportation is one of the main challenges to increasing exports.  For some manufacturing sectors, the ability to supply with short lead times can become an important competitive edge for a country so close to the United States.

Lisardo made it clear in the proposal and presentation that Public-Private Partnerships, or Alianzas para el Desarrollo (APD) or Alianzas Público-Privadas (APP), are an important tool that should be considered to tackle these challenges.  Moreover, taking into consideration the research Lisardo worked on for the Center, the proposal included some specific recommendations to manage the risks and increase the value of delivering transportation infrastructure projects via P3s, particularly in the case of renegotiations and bankruptcies.  The use of P3s was specifically highlighted as an alternative way to link the main cities of the country, via rail and roads, and also to improve the infrastructure and services provided in seaports.

The proposal can be found here (in Spanish).

http://export.com.gt/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Doc-Hoja-de-ruta-manufacturas-low.pdf

Some of the reports on the event can be found here (in Spanish).

http://www.dca.gob.gt/index.php/categoryblog-2/item/43620-industria-de-manufactura-se-traza-meta

http://www.prensalibre.com/economia/esperan-subir-exportaciones

Center Graduate Research Associate Lisardo Bolaños, who previously worked with a think tank in Guatemala, was interviewed about ten P3 projects to be implemented in Guatamela, including highways, railroad, airports, ports and a gas pipeline. Guatemalan P3 Agency, ANADIE, is evaluating the feasibility of these projects.

Different analysts and local government organizations mentioned concerns due to insufficient information on the projects and insufficient information given to the public on what P3s are and what their advantages are, as well as insufficient information on how local governments may take advantage of P3s. Bolaños, based on the research done at the Center, mentioned that it’s important that Guatemala: (i) enacts a Chapter 11-like legislation to guarantee the continuous operation of the projects in case of problems; (ii) enacts legal reforms to favor the buy-out of these projects as an alternative to bankruptcy and renegotiations; and (iii) promotes the use of mechanisms to prevent renegotiations, such as Dispute Review Boards.

To read the full article (in Spanish) in Plaza Pública by Julie López and Miguel González Moraga, click here.