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Flexible-term contracts for road franchising

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  • Nombela, Gustavo
  • de Rus, Ginés

Abstract

Private participation in road projects is increasing around the world. The most popular form of franchising is a concession contract, which allows a private firm to charge tolls to road users during a pre-determined period in order to recover investments. Concessionaires are usually selected through auctions at which candidates submit bids for tolls or payments to the government. This paper discusses how this mechanism does not generally yield optimal outcomes and it induces the frequent contract renegotiations observed in practice. A new franchising mechanism is proposed, based on a flexible-term contract and bi-dimensional bids for total net revenue and maintenance costs. This new mechanism improves outcomes compared to fixed-term concessions, by eliminating traffic risk and promoting the selection of efficient concessionaires.

Suggested Citation

  • Nombela, Gustavo & de Rus, Ginés, 2004. "Flexible-term contracts for road franchising," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 163-179, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:38:y:2004:i:3:p:163-179
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Tan, Zhijia & Yang, Hai & Guo, Xiaolei, 2010. "Properties of Pareto-efficient contracts and regulations for road franchising," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 415-433, May.
    2. Feng, Zhuo & Zhang, Shui-Bo & Gao, Ying, 2015. "Modeling the impact of government guarantees on toll charge, road quality and capacity for Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) road projects," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 54-67.
    3. Vassallo, José Manuel, 2010. "The role of the discount rate in tendering highway concessions under the LPVR approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 806-814, December.
    4. Yin, Yafeng & Guo, Xiaolei, 2016. "Optimal choice of capacity, toll and government guarantee for build-operate-transfer roads under asymmetric cost informationAuthor-Name: Shi, Shasha," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 56-69.
    5. Jorge Valido, 2020. "Large Infrastructure Investments: Financing Mechanisms and Incentives in Decentralised Countries," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(4), pages 905-921, December.
    6. Ginés Rus & M. Socorro, 2010. "Infrastructure Investment and Incentives with Supranational Funding," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 17(3), pages 551-567, September.
    7. Song, Jinbo & Jin, Lulu & Zhao, Yunpeng & Hu, Wenjin, 2017. "Using bargaining-game model to negotiate compensation for the early termination of BOT highway projects," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 197-209.
    8. Song, Yanqiu & Shangguan, Lingzhi & Li, Guijun, 2021. "Simulation analysis of flexible concession period contracts in electric vehicle charging infrastructure public-private-partnership (EVCI-PPP) projects based on time-of-use (TOU) charging price strateg," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    9. Ginés de Rus, 2015. "La política de infraestructuras en España. Una reforma pendiente," Policy Papers 2015-08, FEDEA.
    10. Albalate, Daniel & Bel, Germà, 2009. "Regulating concessions of toll motorways: An empirical study on fixed vs. variable term contracts," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 219-229, February.
    11. Zhang, Yiwen & Feng, Zhuo & Zhang, Shuibo, 2018. "The effects of concession period structures on BOT road contracts," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 106-125.
    12. Meunier, David & Quinet, Emile, 2007. "Chapter 4 The contracting of investment and operation, and the management of infrastructure funding bodies," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 81-109, January.
    13. Shu, Hang & Durango-Cohen, Pablo L., 2021. "On the design of optimal auctions for road concessions: Firm selection, government payments, toll and capacity schedules with imperfect information," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 210-236.
    14. Hoang-Tung, Nguyen & Viet Hung, Do & Kato, Hironori & Binh, Phan Le, 2021. "Modeling ceiling price for build-operate-transfer road projects in developing countries," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    15. Elmar G. Wolfstetter, 2021. "Universal High-Speed Broadband Provision: An Alternative Policy Approach," CESifo Working Paper Series 9014, CESifo.
    16. Wu, Di & Yin, Yafeng & Lawphongpanich, Siriphong, 2011. "Optimal selection of build–operate-transfer projects on transportation networks," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 1699-1709.
    17. Ginés de Rus, 2024. "Inversión en infraestructuras. La necesidad de reestructurar el modelo concesional español," Fedea Economy Notes 2024-03, FEDEA.
    18. Jin, Hongyu & Liu, Shijing & Sun, Jide & Liu, Chunlu, 2021. "Determining concession periods and minimum revenue guarantees in public-private-partnership agreements," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 291(2), pages 512-524.
    19. Kang, Chao-Chung & Lee, Tsun-Siou & Huang, Szu-Chi, 2013. "Royalty bargaining in Public–Private Partnership projects: Insights from a theoretic three-stage game auction model," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1-14.
    20. Feng, Zhuo & Zhang, Shui-Bo & Gao, Ying & Zhang, Shuai-Jun, 2016. "Subsidizing and pricing private toll roads with noncontractible service quality: A relational contract approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 466-491.
    21. Tan, Zhijia & Yang, Hai, 2012. "Flexible build-operate-transfer contracts for road franchising under demand uncertainty," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1419-1439.
    22. Meunier, David & Quinet, Emile, 2010. "Tips and Pitfalls in PPP design," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 126-138.
    23. Feng, Zhuo & Zhang, Yiwen & Zhang, Shuibo & Song, Jinbo, 2018. "Contracting and renegotiating with a loss-averse private firm in BOT road projects," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 40-72.
    24. Wang, Grace W.Y. & Pallis, Athanasios A., 2014. "Incentive approaches to overcome moral hazard in port concession agreements," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 162-174.
    25. Meng, Qiang & Lu, Zhaoyang, 2017. "Quantitative analyses of highway franchising under build-operate-transfer scheme: Critical review and future research directions," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 105-123.

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