Social Infrastructure Projects Research Articles

Effects of Refugee Settlements on the Host Community Around Dadaab Refugee Camps in Northern Kenya

The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of refugee settlements on the host community around Dadaab refugee camps in northern Kenya. The study objectives included establishing the effect of camp social facilities and infrastructure projects on the host community. The study was anchored by two theories: refugee aid and development theory. The study used a descriptive research approach. The unit of observation was comprised of the host community within the Dadaab refugee camps of Dagahaley, Ifo, and Hagadera in northern Kenya. The unit of analysis was community leaders, public administrators, and household heads. The study used the census technique due to the small size of the population to sample all 177 participants to be included in the study. The collection of primary data involved direct engagement with both the host community and refugees to fill out the questionnaire. The data analysis techniques used on the collected data were descriptive and inferential statistics. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) tool aided in data analysis. The analyzed data were presented in the form of means and standard deviations for ease of interpretation. Results revealed that each predictor variable, which is camp social facilities and infrastructure projects, had a significant impact on the host community; for instance, holding other factors, the host community will improve by 1.108 units. Moreover, a unit increase in the camp social facility will improve the host community by 0.718, while a unit increment in the infrastructural project will improve the host community by 0.275 units. The results suggest that there is a need for a comprehensive and integrated approach, which can lead to an improvement in the host community and have a sustainable impact on the host communities. The recommendation of the study was to recognize the substantial impact of the inflow of camp social facilities and the development of infrastructural projects, which are key in the enhancement and expansion of community facilities, to contribute to the overall quality of life for residents.

Project Success Criteria in Social Infrastructure

The main aim of this paper is to conceptualize success for social infrastructure projects, examining juxtapositions between project management- and overall project success , as well as prevalent definitions for success in the public realm. The text includes a review of relevant literature on the topic of project success frameworks, in combination with a case study illustrating the differences between several success criteria on the example of the Indiana Toll Road project. The findings of the case study suggest that despite the project resulting in the bankruptcy of the private entity, it could nonetheless be considered a public project success, due to its large approval ratings by Indiana’s citizens. Additionally, the study highlights the importance of safeguards against planning fallacy and optimism bias – issues which are amplified in social infrastructure procurement procedures. This topic discussed in this research paper concern qualifiers for success, in combination with a case study outlining the impact of improperly accounted for optimism bias. The obtained results may be of interest to representatives of science and practice, especially with regard to social infrastructure development.

The role of Building Information Modelling in the implementation of sustainable, environmentally friendly, and social infrastructure projects

The role of Building Information Modelling in the implementation of sustainable, environmentally friendly, and social infrastructure projects

Evaluating Public-Private Partnership Dynamics: the Kazakhstan Toll Road Case

The holistic collaboration between the government and business through public-private partnerships (PPPs) is crucial in developing economies in transition. With the help of the PPP mechanism, emerging economies realize new and maintain existing social and economic infrastructure projects in education, energy, transportation, and healthcare. This lessens the funding burden on the state budget and attracts private investment and expertise into the economy. However, one of the critical tasks is to engage a suitable private partner with whom a long-term relationship can be built for mutual benefit. The most vital issue in establishing and maintaining the PPP collaboration with such a partner is related to the appropriate management of business risks. This study focuses on the success of an infrastructure project for a private partner by analyzing the critical risks inherent in PPP projects. The research uses system dynamics (SD) modeling, which qualitatively and quantitatively determines how each risk affects the project realization. The study examines the largest PPP project in Central Asia, the Big Almaty Ring Road. This toll road project is taken as a case to demonstrate the impact of the most critical risks on the success of the PPP projects. For the simulation, the “hard tolls” form, which is one of the popular payment mechanisms in the global PPP practice, is considered where the private partner bears most of the risks. The findings show the riskiness of such a payment mechanism in implementing toll road projects with existing traffic and tariffs under conditions of uncertainty typical for Kazakhstan and other similar developing countries.

Critical Success Factors for the Implementation of Public-Private Partnerships in Zimbabwe's State Universities

A weakness of the extant Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) literature to date has been its normative approach to the subject, creating in effect, a 'one size fits all view' of the preconditions or Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for the implementation of PPPs yet they vary with the context and sector. This study challenges the existing prominent CSFs model for the implementation of PPP which it perceives to be broader and biased towards economic infrastructure in rich industrial nations and excludes the realities of post-colonial third world countries. The research developed a refined sector-specific Educational Infrastructure Critical Success Factor Model (EICSFM) that will inform effective implementation of educational infrastructure PPPs in Zimbabwe state universities. Validated suggestions from research participants were compared to the existing model used to guide this study and results showed that some of the suggested CSFs for PPPs in Zimbabwe state universities tallies with this extant widely accepted CSFs model for PPPs, whereas some differ. The new suggested emerging sector-specific CSFs for effective implementation of PPPs in state universities include; the need for state universities to have absolute autonomy, the establishment of institutional PPP Committees, state universities to be creative and aggressive, vibrant leadership at state universities, universities to have good business orientation, the establishment of innovative PPPs models for educational infrastructure projects (social infrastructure projects), the creation of project bankability and attractiveness to investors, the need for political will and creation of trust. Comparing such suggestions to the extant CSFs model, the study concluded that even though some these preconditions for successful implementation of PPPs may be similar to some of the existing ones, their application is not similar but context-based. The study thus recommends governments avoid a ‘one size fits all’ perception and approach, but rather encompass sector-specific considerations when adopting and implementing PPPs as an alternative funding option for infrastructure development.

The European Union's Global Gateway: An institutional and economic overview

AbstractInfrastructure investments are the material way of turning sustainable development goals into practice. Climate action requires renewable energy plants, power grids and electric‐vehicle charging infrastructure, in the same way that health requires hospitals, education requires schools or connectivity requires ports. In this context, the Global Gateway can help meet the European Union (EU)'s international pledges, such as on climate finance, by supporting partner countries in the implementation of their sustainable development agendas. It can enable EU industry to enter new growing markets, a win for EU industrial policy. On top of this, it can help economic development in the EU's partner countries, providing an invaluable foreign policy dividend for the EU. In geopolitical terms, the Global Gateway can help the EU better position itself in the global infrastructure and connectivity race. Rule‐based cooperation focussed on a clear set of priorities represents an attractive alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative in several partner countries, starting in Africa. By scaling up cooperation on economic and social infrastructure projects, the EU thus has an opportunity to promote its values and vision of sustainability in a way that is tangible and long‐lasting.

Driving Factors of Concession Period in Healthcare Public Private Partnerships

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) play a vital role in infrastructure development and public service delivery, with government entities collaborating with private sector organizations to achieve shared goals in the long term. An essential aspect of PPP contracts is the concession period, during which Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) are responsible for financing, building, operating, and maintaining public assets. The concession period has significant implications, associated with project risk, revenue, operations expenses, profitability, and bankability. While numerous studies focus on determining “optimal” concession periods, fewer explore the factors driving concession periods in national PPP programs, especially for social infrastructure projects relying primarily on availability payments. To fill this gap, this research aims to identify and analyze the effect of various potential factors on the length of the concession period, using linear regression analysis on a data set of healthcare PPP projects in Italy. This research theoretically contributes to understanding the driving factors of concession periods in PPP projects and provides insights for a balanced approach to PPP project planning and regulation and related strategies. On the practical side, decision makers can negotiate optimized concession periods, ensuring successful and sustainable public infrastructure projects.

Solutions to Enhance the Efficiency of Local Development Investment Funds in Vietnam

The paper titled “Solutions to Enhance the Efficiency of Local Development Investment Funds in Vietnam” examines the role and operations of Local Development Investment Funds (LDIFs) in the context of infrastructure development within the budgets of Vietnamese provinces and cities. These funds play a crucial role in mobilizing resources, engaging private economic entities, and supporting economic and social infrastructure projects. The paper evaluates the current status of LDIFs, highlighting their achievements, limitations, and challenges. The study proposes a comprehensive set of solutions to enhance the effectiveness of LDIF operations and improve their impact on local economic and social development. The introduction provides an overview of the fiscal challenges faced by the government and localities due to overspending within permissible limits. The second section details the current situation of LDIF operations, presenting statistics on their capital, lending activities, investments, and engagement with other financial funds. It underscores the achievements in capital accumulation, lending, investment, and entrusted activities, while also pointing out limitations such as restrictions on capital mobilization, small fund sizes, non-performing loans, and challenges in investment activities.To address these challenges, the paper presents a set of solutions in the third section. The proposed solutions aim to enhance the effectiveness of LDIF activities and ensure they contribute optimally to the ongoing efforts of building prosperous provinces and cities in Vietnam. The paper references various sources, including reports from the Association of Local Development Investment Funds, government decrees, academic journals, and research articles, to support its analysis and recommendations for improving LDIF operations.

Reducing Cost Overrun in Public Housing Projects: A Simplified Reference Class Forecast for Small Island Developing States

Inaccuracies in cost estimation on construction projects is a contested topic in praxis. Among the leading explanations for cost overrun (CO), factors accounting for large variances in actual cost are shown to have psychological or political roots. The context of public sector social housing projects (PSSHPs) in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) is positioned with similar CO challenges. This study is the fifth phase of a series of research projects on the vulnerability of PSSHPs to COs, and the need to de-risk cost estimates. The aim of this study is to present a simple and practical application of Reference Class Forecasting (RCF), a promising solution utilizing an “outside view” approach, as an effective control to reduce the variance of forecasted cost inaccuracies. Using a sample set of 82 housing projects, a reference class of 23 projects was selected based on properties such as design-build procurement type and local contractor involvement. A probability distribution was then established for this reference class, and required cost uplifts to be applied were based on the level of risk a housing agency is willing to accept for PSSHPs. Finally, the accuracy of the reference class was tested using a recently completed project. The results showed that the RCF method, based on a 50th percentile risk acceptance of CO, provides a closer estimate to the actual costs of the project as compared to the contracted costs. This empirical study is the first to undertake and implement RCF in the 52 SIDS and presents the first instance of practical RCF in public housing projects worldwide, thus providing a platform for improvement in future PSSHPs’ budget forecasting. The research can be applied to lessen societal and economic welfare losses as well as significant financial risks for governments. The implementation of practical safeguards, such as RCF, together with contemporary standard project controls, provides immediate advantages for enhancing accuracy in present forecasting approaches against financial risks. It allows for improved value derived from social infrastructure projects, improved supply of public housing, and consequently progress for these nations towards achieving their sustainable development goals.

Cost-benefit analysis for health project evaluation (example of a Russian outpatient clinics' project in the Novosibirsk region).

The development of social infrastructure projects in medicine corresponds to transforming public priorities toward social development in general and health care in particular. Therefore, there is a need to develop comprehensive quantitative methods for evaluating such projects. This paper uses a combination of two approaches: first, cost-benefit analysis taking into account the relationship between financial and economic efficiency; second, the study of the efficiency of participation in a public-private partnership concerning project efficiency. The model's financial bloc is focused on analyzing the return on investment in fixed and working capital, considering the terminal value. The economic bloc includes social and tax effects (along with environmental, price, indirect, and other specific public effects). We apply fixed effects regression models to calculate multipliers used to estimate the social effects. Multipliers are based on: public health expenditure, human development index, and life expectancy. The proposed methodology has been adapted for evaluating the Seven Polyclinics' project as a flagship project for developing social infrastructure in the Novosibirsk Region. The evaluation results revealed a deficient level of financial efficiency of the project characterized by negative net present value and low internal rate of return. Simultaneously, the efficiency of participation in the project for private investors using the public-private partnership mechanism is characterized by high rates of return on private investment. In the transition to the economic analysis, the results fundamentally change, taking into account social and tax effects and detecting an exceptionally high level of all economic indicators of the project. As the project's primary beneficiaries, the economic analysis identified polyclinic patients who received the opportunity to acquire new medical services. At the same time, within the financial analysis framework, the mechanisms for implementing the project were determined, ensuring the consistency of interests. The distribution of effects among the project participants was compared for various funding methods, including the public-private partnerships mechanism. It is shown that the project implementation leads to significant social effects and provides a noticeable improvement in population health. The proposed methodology can be used for decision making on the implementation of similar projects.

How social infrastructure saves lives: a quantitative analysis of Japan's 3/11 disasters

AbstractObservers have long debated how societies should invest resources to safeguard citizens and property, especially in the face of increasing shocks and crises. This article explores how social infrastructure – the spaces and places that help build and maintain social ties and trust, allowing societies to coordinate behavior – plays an important role in our communities, especially in mitigating and recovering from shocks. An analysis of quantitative data on more than 550 neighborhoods across the three Japanese prefectures most affected by the tsunami of 11 March 2011 shows that, controlling for relevant factors, community centers, libraries, parks, and other social infrastructure measurably and cheaply reduced mortality rates among the most vulnerable population. Investing in social infrastructure projects would, based on this data, save more lives during a natural hazard than putting the same money into standard, gray infrastructure such as seawalls. Decision makers at national, regional, and local levels should expand spending on facilities such as libraries, community centers, social businesses, and public parks to increase resilience to multiple types of shocks and to further enhance the quality of life for residents.

Does the Planning Fallacy Prevail in Social Infrastructure Projects? Empirical Evidence and Competing Explanations

The planning fallacy is at play in projects when optimism bias and/or strategic misrepresentation are present. We examine the cost performance of approximately US$ 6.5 billion worth of social infrastructure projects that were procured in Hong Kong and specifically the differences between their final accounts and the various types of estimates that were prepared prior to construction. We focus on the (honest) planning fallacy and hence aim to determine whether estimates are more optimistic than actual costs. Our data shows that 43% of projects incurred a <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">cost underrun</i> from their contract award. We therefore infer that at best 57% of projects may be explained by the presence of the planning fallacy. Based on our findings, we argue that optimism and pessimism bias coexist. Likewise, the planning fallacy and competing explanations can simultaneously account for cost deviations in social infrastructure projects. We submit that the prevalence of the planning fallacy has been exaggerated and hence provide an explanation as to why this has occurred. We finally suggest there is a need for additional empirical work to test the claim that the planning fallacy is <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">the</i> underlying cause of cost overruns and thus the best “theory” to explain “how projects work.”

Complex Methods for Evaluation of Health Projects (Example of the Project of the Outpatient Hospitals Construction in the Novosibirsk Region)

In recent years, a number of strategic decisions have been made in the field of social infrastructure projects, for the justification and successful implementation of which, the application of adequate tools for project analysis is essential. Currently, the quantitative methods, elaborated and applied in practice to evaluate infrastructure projects, concentrate on the evaluation of the financial (commercial) efficiency of projects. An urgent need to conduct an assessment of the economic (social) efficiency of projects simultaneously arises, being especially important for healthcare projects in the face of modern global challenges. The developed financial-economic model provides with an opportunity to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the financial and social effects of healthcare projects based on world standards adopted in the framework of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and used in the practice of international financial organizations (World Bank, European Investment Bank, Asian Development Bank) The financial block of the model is focused on the analysis of the return on investment in fixed and working capital, taking into account the terminal value. The economic block of the model includes social and tax effects (along with environmental, price, indirect and other specific social effects). The proposed evaluation tool provides for the simultaneous assessment both the financial and economic efficiency of the outpatient hospital project in the NSO as a flagship project for the development of social infrastructure.

El presupuesto general de la nación: una aproximación a las partidas de transferencias e inversión

This paper explores in detail the transfer and investment components of the General Budget of the Nation, whose composition is complex to evaluate due to the nature and variety of its items. For the study of these items, the literature on the political economy of the budget and the budget process in Colombia is considered. The transfer and investment items represent about 60 % of the General Budget and have great inflexibility of public spending, due to the diversity of appropriations with legal backing, especially in the transfer’s item. The investment is made up of a wide range of social programs, subsidies, and infrastructure projects, which in some cases correspond to commitments acquired in previous terms, through the so-called future terms. The rigidity of the budget deepens with the frequent approval of laws that generate additional spending on a temporary or permanent basis.

Extradosed cable‐stayed Pelješac Bridge in Croatia – Fabrication of steel box girders and on‐site installation

AbstractThe new Pelješac Bridge and access road project, which links Mainland Croatia to the Pelješac Peninsula, is the most significant social infrastructure project in Croatia under construction at present. The bridge site lies in the highly active seismic region with ground acceleration ag = 0.34g and a maximum average ten‐minute wind speed above 33.7 m/s. As a result, the execution class for the steel structure was judged to be EXC4 based on the recommended matrix in standard EN 1090‐2, which defines execution classes according to consequence class, service category, and production category. The correspondingly determined quality level was class B+, which equates to quality class B under ISO 5817 with supplementary requirements for bridge decks from EN 1090‐2. This article describes the whole fabrication process in the workshop, the long‐distance transportation and the installation on the bridge site. To satisfy such high‐quality technical requirements, the heavy steel structures were fabricated using a wide variety of mechanized equipment and automatic welding techniques. This helped to ensure a more efficient fabrication process and more consistent product quality. The length of the large side span segments was designed to suit the capabilities of the floating cranes and transit barges, thereby making on‐site installation more efficient. Against the backdrop of the global Covid‐19 pandemic, the contractor CRBC overcame seemingly unsurmountable obstacles beyond their control to successfully complete this challenging assignment in two years.

ЭФФЕКТИВНОСТЬ МЕХАНИЗМА ГОСУДАРСТВЕННО-ЧАСТНОГО ПАРТНЕРСТВА ПРИ ФИНАНСИРОВАНИИ СОЦИАЛЬНОЙ ИНФРАСТРУКТУРЫ

The purpose of the article is to consider the effectiveness of the mechanism of the public-private partnership in the implementation of social infrastructure projects. It is argued that public-private partnership contributes to the effective distribution of risks and costs for the creation of infrastructure facilities between the private and public parties. It is shown that the branches of social infrastructure differ from each other depending on the ability of an object to generate revenue at the operational stage, which means to ensure the return on investment invested in its construction. It is substantiated that from the point of view of budgetary efficiency, the mechanism of public-private partnership is effective mainly for social infrastructure projects with a potential commercial component. It is stressed that for the objects that are completely free for all users of the infrastructure, it is advisable to use other tools instead of public-private partnerships such as direct funding from the budget. As a result, the author draws a conclusion that the attraction of borrowed sources of financing can be carried out directly by a public legal entity, and using infrastructure budget loans, issuing infrastructure bonds with the guarantee of «DOM.RF», subsidizing interest rates on borrowed funds.

Impact of the collaboration mechanism of PPP projects based on consumer participation: A system dynamics model of tripartite evolutionary game.

Developing countries need a large number of social infrastructure projects (e.g. schools, medical care, nursing homes). But the government's finance to invest in these projects is limited. By using the public-private partnership (PPP) mode to attract social capital to invest in PPP projects, it can relieve the financial pressure and improve the operation efficiency. The cooperation between government and consumer can ensure the sustainable development of the project operation. A system dynamics model of tripartite evolutionary game is developed to analyze the interaction of participant's strategies and simulate the corresponding evolution process. We employ the scenario analysis method to investigate the impact of the key parameters in relation with PPP projects based on realistic scenario assumptions. The results reveal the effect of some policies including reverse effect, blocking effect and over-reliance effect. Specifically, the results show that high penalty can prevent social capital from providing low-quality services, the low cost of government regulation can promote social capital to provide high-quality services, compensation to consumer can increase the enthusiasm of consumer participating in supervision, appropriate difference between price and cost of high-quality service as social capital's profit can encourage social capital to provide high-quality service. These policy suggestions will contribute to the sustainable development of social infrastructures in PPP mode.

Informal Customary Institutions, Collective Action, and Submunicipal Public Goods Provision in Mexico

ABSTRACTThis article explores the role of informal customary institutions (usos y costumbres) in local public goods provision in Mexico. It argues that the presence of informal customary institutions offers submunicipal village communities considerable advantages in local distributive politics. Hamlet communities with dense customary institutions have higher collective action capacity to organize their citizens for small-scale protests in municipal centers, which grants them access to more social infrastructure projects controlled by municipal politicians. This article therefore suggests a novel theoretical mechanism through which customary institutions affect development outcomes: collective contentious action. The study tests the main empirical implications of this theory, drawing on an original survey of submunicipal community presidents in the states of Puebla and Tlaxcala and qualitative interviews.

Underpricing in Social Infrastructure Projects: Combating the Institutionalization of the Winner’s Curse

AbstractResearch examining underpricing in social infrastructure projects has been limited (e.g., schools), yet this is a reality that confronts many governments worldwide. The upshot of underprici...

Owner capabilities in social infrastructure projects: towards an expansion of the dynamic capabilities’ framework

PurposeThe project organising literature has increasingly paid attention to the dynamic capabilities required for the development of projects. The current research aims to expand the dynamic capabilities framework by including owner capabilities required throughout the whole project life cycle.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses an interpretive qualitative research approach. Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with the key actors of a social infrastructure project.FindingsThe findings suggest that the expansion of the dynamic capabilities framework to include owner capabilities required throughout a project life cycle could positively impact the success of a project. “Transformational capabilities” are recommended to enable the owner to overcome challenges and lead the evolution towards project organisations that are capable of transforming its outputs into beneficial use.Originality/valueExisting research on dynamic capabilities does not address the particular challenges of social infrastructure projects such as housing. The current research fills this gap by exposing the challenges experienced by owners in the development of certain capabilities and their impact on the performance of a project.