Matti Siemiatycki

Delivering Transportation Infrastructure Through Public-Private Partnerships: Planning Concerns

Problem: The types of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in which private sector partners take on increased responsibility for project design, construction, financing, and operation have become popular in the United States and around the world as means of delivering large-scale transportation infrastructure. However, it is unclear what implications this model of project delivery has for planning theory and practice as distinct from public policy more generally. Purpose: I aim to develop a set of criteria on which to evaluate the procedural, spatial, design, public policy, and political implications of these PPPs from a planning perspective, and then to examine whether their proposed benefits are matched by real-world experiences. Methods: I examine in depth three case studies of transportation projects delivered through such PPPs: the Croydon Tramlink in London, UK; the State Route 91 toll lanes in Orange County, CA; and the Cross City Tunnel in Sydney, Australia. Results and conclusions: The short-term and long-term impacts of such PPPs on infrastructure project delivery were different. In the short term, the model was effective at raising funds for new facilities and transferring financial risks to the private sector, but its limited transparency minimized meaningful community engagement in project planning. Over the longer term, noncompetition clauses in the concession agreements restricted government flexibility to respond to changing conditions, lawsuits were common as relationships between the partners deteriorated, and all three concessions were ultimately sold under duress, two to public sector agencies. Takeaway for practice: These PPPs profoundly affected the planning processes for public infrastructure and the outcomes achieved once such facilities were operational. This research identifies the need for new ex ante evaluation tools, risk transfer mechanisms, community engagement processes, and data tracking and performance monitoring procedures, to prevent negative consequences from transportation PPPs. Research support: None.

Value for Money and Risk in Public–Private Partnerships

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Delivering improved public services at lower cost, also known formally as value for money (VfM), is often the main rationale for procuring large infrastructure projects through public–private partnerships (PPPs). However, it is unclear whether the ex ante assessments of PPPs account for key planning concerns, including limitations on community consultation, contractual lock-ins that curtail public flexibility to make future plans, and a political preference for PPPs that may influence the way that projects are structured and evaluated. This set of questions is examined for 28 infrastructure PPPs delivered in Ontario, Canada, and interviews with18 senior political, government, and private-sector participants in the provinces PPP industry. We find that transferring of construction risks from government to the private-sector partners drives VfM results, and may overvalue the extent to which planning related risks can be transferred. Takeaway for practice: PPP contract structures should permit more transparency during the project planning process and preserve the flexibility of governments to control key planning tasks such as user fees, service coordination and facility expansion. Strategies might include: the unbundling of construction and operation phases of the PPP in all but the most unique situations, the use of competitive dialogue tendering to deepen public–private collaboration earlier in the planning process, and the inclusion of contract rebalancing terms to better share rather than transfer project risks. Research support: This research was funded through a Standard Research Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Application Number: 110998).

Academics and Auditors Comparing Perspectives on Transportation Project Cost Overruns

How common are cost overruns during the delivery of transportation infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, and public transit facilities, and what explains their occurrence? This article compares the findings of studies by academics and independent government auditors, two groups that have different mandates, objectives, and access to data. There is a high level of consistency in the finding that transportation projects regularly experience escalating costs. Yet there are sharp divergences between the technical and managerial explanations prioritized by the auditors and the political, economic, and psychological explanations prioritized in much of the academic literature. The differences in explanations point to diverse remedies for the challenge of cost overruns.

What's the Secret? Confidentiality in Planning Infrastructure Using Public/Private Partnerships

Abstract Problem: Information is often suppressed when public infrastructure is planned by design-build-finance-operate (DFBO) public/private partnerships, an increasingly popular strategy for procuring transportation facilities, hospitals, and schools. Purpose: I aim to identify strategies to increase transparency and accountability in large infrastructure projects delivered through public/private partnerships. Methods: I studied the case of an award winning public/private partnership to plan a rapid rail line in Vancouver by comparing confidential documents released after project approval to the information available while planning was underway. Results and conclusions: I find that although this project followed many best practices for achieving accountable and transparent public/private partnerships, in some instances it kept unfavorable study results from public view, limiting the potential for meaningful public involvement in the planning process. Takeaway for practice: I identify the following strategies to increase transparency and accountability in large infrastructure projects, including those delivered through private-public partnerships: (1) using a clear and narrow standard for what information should be kept confidential; (2) ensuring that public officials with responsibility for project decisions and their staffs have full access to all project information, including that not made public; (3) appointing a watchdog to see that these standards are upheld; and (4) implementing a decision process that allows public input and places the burden for proving that information should remain confidential on the entity making the request.

Implications of Private-Public Partnerships on the Development of Urban Public Transit Infrastructure

Recently, design-build-operate-transfer-style private-public partnerships have gained popularity both with left-wing and with right-wing governments as a means of effectively delivering large-scale transportation infrastructure projects. Proponents suggest that introducing competition and market forces into the procurement of public infrastructure can make decision making more accountable, contribute to greater technological innovation, and reduce the potential for construction-cost escalations that consistently have plagued transportation projects. However, this article shows that in the case of a new rapid-rail development in Vancouver, Canada, the private-public-partnership method of project delivery has been largely incongruent with increased accountability while failing to drive technological innovation or limit cost escalations during the planning process.

Neoliberalism and the geographies of marketization The entangling of state and markets

Increasingly, governments are experimenting with ways to provide public goods by involving the private sector in the planning, financing, building and operating of a range of services, facilities, infrastructure, etc. In the geographical literature on neoliberalism this entanglement of the state and markets has been loosely conceptualized as a process of marketization. This concept describes the insertion of markets or market forces into the state and public sector. In this paper we unpack this concept by highlighting the need to think about a range of marketization processes at play across a range of geographies.

The Role of the Planning Scholar: Research, Conflict, and Social Change

While a recurring theme in planning scholarship has been to characterize the role of the planning practitioner in society, less attention has focused on the evolving role of the planning scholar. This paper provides planning researchers with a framework to identify the scholarly roles that they have assumed when carrying out research and to understand the implications associated with their decisions. In particular, it shows how the different roles that planning scholars adopt are intricately linked with the goals, epistemologies, audience, sources of conflict, and potential impact of their research.

The making of a mega project in the neoliberal city

Canadian cities are widely recognized for their effective provision of public transportation. Both Montreal and Toronto are often cited as models of public transit, with system performance and ridership figures comparable to the best in the world, including Europe, the USA and Australia. The busway network in Ottawa is internationally acclaimed as an innovative and successful alternative to capital‐intensive urban rail systems (Cervero, 2001). In 1996, Vancouver was acknowledged as the North American Transit System of the Year by the American Public Transit Association. These Canadian transit systems experienced their greatest capital expansion as a result of public‐sector planning and financing, and each system is currently operated predominantly by public‐sector corporations. Yet at the beginning of the 21st century, private‐sector involvement in the planning, financing and operation of public transit has become increasingly popular in Canada. Seen as latecomers in experimenting with private‐sector involvement in the public transit industry, some Canadian systems have now begun to outsource the operation and maintenance of bus or rail services to private firms.

Fostering meaningful partnerships in public–private partnerships: innovations in partnership design and process management to create value:

While public–private partnerships have become increasingly popular for delivering large-scale public infrastructure around the world, a common critique is that the structure of the relationship is typically more akin to contracting out than a truly meaningful collaboration between the partners. In this paper we aim to demonstrate how innovative public–private partnership models can be designed to deepen cooperation and deliver project outcomes that are better than any one partner could achieve on their own. To support our argument, we analyze the case study of a novel partnership between the Toronto District School Board and a condominium developer to redevelop a public high school in Toronto. Our results show that a process management orientation to partnership can build trust between the partners, effectively share project risks, and foster the public support necessary to realize controversial projects.

Public-Private Partnership Networks: Exploring Business-Government Relationships in United Kingdom Transportation Projects

Abstract Since the early 1990s, U.K. governmental policy has formally encouraged the delivery of infrastructure through private finance initiatives, a model of public-private partnership in which the design, construction, financing, operation, and maintenance of facilities are bundled into a long-term contract with a single consortium of firms. Drawing on an analysis of governmental records of the firms that participated in every U.K. project between 1987 and 2009, this article traces the extent to which stable partnerships are used to produce private finance transportation initiatives. The findings highlight an important tension between the benefits and drawbacks of repeat collaborations on one-off projects. On the one hand, the extensive use of repeat-partnership relationships lowers transaction costs, encourages innovation, and supports learning from past experiences. On the other hand, deep embeddedness within social networks that encourages frequent repeat collaborations can reduce competition within the industry and contribute to higher delivery costs and lower-quality public services. Through this analysis, the article addresses the key economic geography literatures that are related to project ecologies, embeddedness, and repeat collaborations within networked production processes.