IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v8y2016i12p1284-d84725.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Remedial Measures for Erroneous Environmental Policies: Assessing Infrastructure Projects of Waste-to-Energy Incineration in Taiwan with a Case Study of the Taitung Incinerator

Author

Listed:
  • Lih-Ren Liu

    (Institute of Natural Resources Management, National Taipei University, 151 University Road, San Shia District, New Taipei City 23741, Taiwan)

  • Yuh-Ming Lee

    (Institute of Natural Resources Management, National Taipei University, 151 University Road, San Shia District, New Taipei City 23741, Taiwan)

Abstract

Taiwan, like many other countries, often incentivizes private investors to participate in the construction of infrastructures for environmental protection. The build-operate-transfer (BOT) or build-operate-own (BOO) model of financing public infrastructure was introduced to Taiwan in the 1990s. Among them, the construction of incinerators to treat the municipal solid waste using the BOT/BOO model was quite a success in the beginning. With the socio-technical change of lifestyle and waste generation, the amount of amount of trash dropped dramatically. The policy failed eventually, however, because the government over-estimated the trash quantity and refrained from inter-municipality cooperation to treat trash efficiently. This failure triggered a rash of intense debates and legal disputes. In the case of the Taitung incinerator, the 26th incinerator located in southeastern Taiwan, the arbitration resulted in the government making significant compensation payments to the private sector. The finished construction was consequently converted into a “mothballed and pensioned off” facility. This study applies in-depth interviews and literature review to discuss aspects contributing to the policy failure and proposes some possible remedial measures. Five aspects are summarized, namely, the administrative organization’s rigid attitude, the irrationality of the BOT/BOO contracts, the loss of the spirit of BOO partnerships, the heavy financial burden on local government, and the abandonment of inter-municipality cooperation. The remedial measures for the policy failure are presented in the form of thorough policy evaluation, room for contract adjustments under the BOT/BOO model, encouragement of cross-boundary cooperation, and revision of the legal framework for implementing decentralization.

Suggested Citation

  • Lih-Ren Liu & Yuh-Ming Lee, 2016. "Remedial Measures for Erroneous Environmental Policies: Assessing Infrastructure Projects of Waste-to-Energy Incineration in Taiwan with a Case Study of the Taitung Incinerator," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:12:p:1284-:d:84725
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/12/1284/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/12/1284/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liang-Xin Li, 2011. "Chinese Economic Outlook after Global Crisis," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 1(3), pages 1-5.
    2. Niu, Baozhuang & Zhang, Jie, 2013. "Price, capacity and concession period decisions of Pareto-efficient BOT contracts with demand uncertainty," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-14.
    3. Stan Xiao Li & Xiaotao Yao & Christina Sue-Chan & Youmin Xi, 2011. "Editors' Forum: Chinese Capitalism," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 7(1), pages 97-124, March.
    4. Zhao, Zhen-Yu & Zuo, Jian & Zillante, George, 2013. "Factors influencing the success of BOT power plant projects in China: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 446-453.
    5. Chen, Anthony & Subprasom, Kitti, 2007. "Analysis of regulation and policy of private toll roads in a build-operate-transfer scheme under demand uncertainty," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 537-558, July.
    6. Zhao, Zhen-Yu & Zuo, Jian & Zillante, George & Wang, Xin-Wei, 2010. "Critical success factors for BOT electric power projects in China: Thermal power versus wind power," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1283-1291.
    7. J. Li, 2011. "Change Chinese returnee rules," Post-Print hal-00716780, HAL.
    8. 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.
    9. Qiu, Larry D. & Wang, Susheng, 2011. "BOT projects: Incentives and efficiency," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 127-138, January.
    10. Rhys Andrews & Steven Van de Walle, 2013. "New Public Management and Citizens' Perceptions of Local Service Efficiency, Responsiveness, Equity and Effectiveness," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5), pages 762-783, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shi, Shasha & Yin, Yafeng & An, Qingxian & Chen, Ke, 2021. "Optimal build-operate-transfer road contracts under information asymmetry and uncertainty," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 65-86.
    2. 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).
    3. Wang, Fan & Xiong, Minghua & Niu, Baozhuang & Zhuo, Xiaopo, 2018. "Impact of government subsidy on BOT contract design: Price, demand, and concession period," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 137-159.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Zhang, Yiwen & Feng, Zhuo & Zhang, Shuibo & Song, Jinbo, 2018. "The effects of service level on BOT transport project contract," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 184-206.
    7. 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.
    8. Wang, Wei (Walker) & Jin, Xi & Tan, Zhijia & Sun, Huijun & Wu, Jianjun, 2022. "Modeling the effects of government subsidy and regulation on BOT transport project contract design within contractible service quality," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    9. Feng, Zhuo & Song, Jinbo & Yang, Xiaoxing & Guo, Ran, 2023. "Contractual flexibility, firm effort, and subsidy design: A comparison of PPP project contracts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(1), pages 484-496.
    10. Shi, Shasha & An, Qingxian & Chen, Ke, 2020. "Optimal choice of capacity, toll, and subsidy for build-operate-transfer roads with a paid minimum traffic guarantee," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 228-254.
    11. Li, Shuai & Cai, Hubo, 2017. "Government incentive impacts on private investment behaviors under demand uncertainty," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 115-129.
    12. Lu, Zhaoyang & Meng, Qiang, 2023. "Effects of asymmetric investment cost information on revenue-compensated build-operate-transfer highway contracts," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 71-92.
    13. Mariana Stanciu, 2016. "Evolution of the family structures in romania," Journal of Community Positive Practices, Catalactica NGO, issue 4, pages 80-100.
    14. Jian Chai & Youhong Zhou & Ting Liang & Limin Xing & Kin Keung Lai, 2016. "Impact of International Oil Price on Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-17, May.
    15. Zhao, Yunpeng & Song, Jinbo & Feng, Zhuo & Jin, Lulu, 2023. "Incentive contracts with demand guarantee in BOT toll road projects," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    16. Song, Jinbo & Zhao, Yunpeng & Jin, Lulu & Sun, Yan, 2018. "Pareto optimization of public-private partnership toll road contracts with government guarantees," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 158-175.
    17. Shiying Shi & Heap-Yih Chong & Lihong Liu & Xiaosu Ye, 2016. "Examining the Interrelationship among Critical Success Factors of Public Private Partnership Infrastructure Projects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-20, December.
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    20. Li, Shuai & Cai, Jiannan & Feng, Zhuo & Xu, Yifang & Cai, Hubo, 2019. "Government contracting with monopoly in infrastructure provision: Regulation or deregulation?," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 506-523.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:12:p:1284-:d:84725. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.