Risk of Planning and Financing Infrastructure Projects: A Private-Public Nexus

Abstract

Transportation does not just mean physical movement of people or goods. It is an interlinking activity integrating the economies of our world. It acts as a driving force for development and new opportunities. Transportation fulfils a key role in modern societies. It does not only offer services to road users, but also to many other actors: public authorities, network operators, industry and society at large. In the same vein, transport is assuming a central role in the new European force field. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the context and nature of European trade and transport is entering a new era. In recent years, Europe has offered a scene with profound changes: integration of the EU market, desintegration of various nation states and more openness between all countries and regions in Europe (including Central and Eastern Europe). Countries - and increasingly also regions - within such trade-blocks are becoming part of an economic network with often global dimensions. To maximize the competitiveness of such a network and thereby to maximize its socio-economic potential and performance, the quality of European infrastructure is of critical importance, as transport has become an important component of modern production processes, amongst others because of changes in division of tasks in and between firms (often in different countries) and the logistic integration of business processes (e.g., horizontal and vertical integration, outsourcing). At the same time, large metropolitan areas appear to become poles of competition in an international context, so that also the quality of a metropolitan network plays a pivotal role in a global competitive system.