Comparative study of China and USA public private partnerships in public transportation

As an effective alternative approach to provide goods and services for public infrastructure, the Public Private Partnership （PPP） has been studied extensively over the past few decades. On a global scale, China and the United States have developed cooperation on PPP projects in various areas. To perform a comparative study, this paper analyzes how PPP projects work in both countries for public transportation. The basic features, types, and phases of PPPs in public transportation are introduced first, fol- lowed by a thorough discussion on their advantages and challenges. This paper adopts a case study method to analyze the achievements and problems of PPP projects in both countries and then proposes important findings and suggestions for future research.

Emerging Challenges in the Completion of Construction Projects through Public Private Partnerships: Empirical Literature Review

The process of engaging private sector in the provision of public infrastructure can improve economic value in service delivery and enable the government to utilize the capabilities and expertise held by private sector. This has a positive impact on the public in terms of improving their well-being. This literature review attempts to compare the challenges encountered in implementation of PPP projects across the world, with a view to determining cross cutting challenges and recommendations for developing countries. A literature review was conducted for empirical studies focusing on construction projects. The studies are reviewed by analyzing the methodology used and conclusions made to identify the geographical study area, Public Private Partnership project financing model, emerging challenges and recommendation for future project management. The literature search was based on four keywords: construction projects, completion of construction projects, public private partnership, challenges in construction projects. Thus, a total of 11 empirical studies were identified for review in Europe, Asia and Africa. The review revealed that most risk factors affecting project completion can be categorized as human and organizational factors and unknown geotechnical conditions that were not known beforehand. Specifically, project owners’ interference was also attributable to delays with the delays having significant implications for project execution. Risks have great impact on the performance of construction projects because they affect their quality, time and cost. The general remedy to such potential risk factors is adoption of reliable prediction mechanisms which would estimate those factors using a probabilistic model that does not rely on expert judgments as they tend to be unreliable.

What Business Models Best Suit the Private Sector in Achieving the SDGs

Since the United Nations Sustainable development goals and the 2030 agenda were initiated in 2015,it has provided governments with a comprehensive blueprint to take action and meet the challenges of the world’s most pressing issues today.But the private sector also plays a large role in contributing to the problems highlighted in the SDGs and companies ranging from many different industries have increasingly become more involved in developing new and innovative solutions to solve the issues highlighted in the SDGs.Social and environmental accountability has been one of the areas that the private sector has been focusing its attention on.Companies in the corporate sector across all industries have adopted Environmental,Social,and Governance(ESG)regulations and targets,that aim to ensure ethical responsibility within private companies and promote transparency about their role in promoting social and environmental well-being across the world.This has allowed many companies to align their values and business models to emphasize the importance of the SDGs.Furthermore,innovative technologies are being utilized to ensure that public reports about the company’s practices are fully accountable and transparent to the public community and the overall private sector.For example,some private companies are using Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence to analyze sustainable practices highlighted in the company’s ESG reports and see if they are genuine and free of greenwashing.This shows that technologies are playing a key role in promoting corporate accountability in terms of sustainability and encouraging private companies to adhere to the guidelines highlighted within the SDGs.Furthermore,private companies have adapted their business models to better promote innovations and collaboration with governments,other private companies as well as NGOs.Since the SDGs were designed to be interconnected and not siloed into their own different challenges,many companies who adopt the SDGs as a major sustainability framework will often develop partnerships and connections with other private sector groups so that they could develop new innovative solutions to meet the challenges posed by current global issues.This is especially prevalent in the clean energy sector,which aims to solve SDG 7 and SDG 13 both important in eradicating the issue of climate change.For example,the solar energy private sector has been currently collaborating with a wide range of universities and research institutions in order to develop solar panels that are more energy efficient and affordable for everyday consumers,while still allowing the private companies to generate significant returns in revenue.When private sector Industries adopt the measures highlighted in the SDGs,not only does it allow them to work with other industries to contribute to combating the world’s most pressing issues,but also maintains and improves their sources of revenue and profit.Overall,in order to meet the world’s most pressing challenges and issues,the private sector has increasingly adopted the SDGs in their business models,so that they would be able to better collaborate with others to develop innovative solutions and to bridge commitment to sustainable development throughout different industries.

The Public Private Partnership （PPP） as a Solution During the Period of Transformation of the Medical Services Market in Poland

The public private partnership （PPP） has functioned worldwide for more than 40 years now, and in different countries, it is developing at different speeds with varying degrees of success. The purpose of this article is to emphasize some standards of the PPP, in particular, within health services area which would guarantee a successful transformation process within the medical services market in Poland, and thus an appropriate division of financial and market risks among the public sectors, including local government sector and private partners within the health services area. Certainly, proper transformation solutions within that industry would significantly contribute to the stabilization of the local government＇s finance sector and higher resistance to the global financial crisis.

THE GREENING OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING THROUGH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: DEVELOPMENT OF A MODEL FOR GREEN AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The trend towards affordable, green housing highlights the need for a Green Affordable Housing (GAH) model that produces durable dwellings that are not significantly more expensive to build, cheaper to operate, healthier for their occupants, and more environmentally sound. The model should also reduce the risk of poverty for those with low and moderate incomes, be close to public transportation, and support a neighborhood that is healthy, walkable and connected to the broader community and natural environment. This case study utilized detailed interviews with occupants, town officials, a developer, and a design builder to explore how green building strategies could be applied in real-world communities with the help of a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and contributions from other funding bodies. Focusing on the Roanoke and Lee Street housing project in Blacksburg, Virginia (VA), this study demonstrated how green building strategies can be integrated into affordable housing with help from public programs and incentives to provide houses that are more durable, no more expensive to build, cheaper to operate, healthier, more environmentally sound and less risky for their occupants. The new framework includes ways to deal with neighborhood issues such as the deterioration of housing stock and infrastructure to support the creation of a vital and healthy neighborhood with improved public services and community spirit, as well as providing an integrated design process framework that enables stakeholders to work together to achieve the goal of building green and affordable housing.

Metropolitan Housing Development in Urban Fringe Areas-A Case Study of Three Metropolitan Cities of South Africa: Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane

Purpose:The metropolitan cities of Johannesburg,Ekurhuleni and Tshwane play an important role in the economy of the Gauteng province in South Africa.The region constitutes to 22.4 percent of the total population of South Africa and has a strong presence and contributes in areas of manufacturing sector,financial and business services,retail and wholesale trade,etc.The rapid urban population,increase in the informal settlements and socio-economic opportunities has resulted in considerable urban sprawl in and around the urban fringe areas of these metropolitan cities.The urban fringe areas of these metros often come under the influence of rapid urbanization process and pressures.Coupled with the economical and potential land dynamics and lack of priority of spatial development guidelines,these areas attract rapid and haphazard development from communities and developers.Research Design/Methodology:This research is based on a qualitative approach through a comprehensive literature review that included content analysis of key documents on housing sector such as IDPs(Integrated Development Plans),Municipal Annual Reports,Growth Development Strategies,and among other sectoral documents on housing sector.Some of the key priority issues considered in the housing sector included:eradication of housing backlogs,spatial restructuring of housing,provision of choice in terms of location,tenure and housing typology.Findings:The current paper discusses the approaches of metropolitan housing development processes in three metropolitan cities of South Africa from Gauteng region,namely:Johannesburg,Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.The paper discusses the existing housing sectoral scenario along with the fringe areas in three cities with focus on:formal and informal settlements,housing segregation and the backlogs,current institutional arrangements,role of public private participation,and scope for alternate mechanisms.The paper concludes in discussion on sustainable development options for housing development in urban fringe areas.

Are public‒private partnerships still an answer for social infrastructure?A systematic literature review

Social infrastructure has become an important element for measuring national economic development and social benefits that are usually financed in the form of government grants,private investment,and public‒private partnerships(PPPs).However,social infrastructure PPPs have attracted considerable public debate due to their low profitability and complex operational demands.This study aims to answer the question,“are PPPs still an answer for social infrastructure?”,from the perspectives of the body of knowledge,application status,and prospects.Initially,an iterative search and review procedure and a scientometric analysis were performed to systematically screen the literature and to structure the body of knowledge of the social infrastructure PPPs literature.Furthermore,the application status and trends were analyzed to further explore the studied countries/regions,application sectors,and research topics.Results show that PPPs still have valuable application potential for delivering social infrastructure despite their mixed results across different topics.Six main research themes and the corresponding research trends were also identified,namely,financing and economics viability,risk management,performance management,contract and relationship management,governance and regulation,and facilitating and hindering factors.These findings offer practitioners and researchers a comprehensive overview and constructive guidance on social infrastructure PPPs.

Theory of Risk in Conventional Public Finance and Islamic Finance

The research objective of the article is to extend the theoretical basis of risk management in the public and Islamic finance. The author hypothesizes that the existing theories of finance, the public choice theory, and the concept of New Public Management create insufficient conditions for risk management in the public finance sector entities and associated international structures of public-private partnership. As shown by the experience of recent years, the theory of financial markets as regards its operators has not yet developed a widely accepted model of risk management. In addition, the public choice theory and the concept of New Public Management do not fully illustrate the essence of risk management in the public sector, especially in capital structures where a private entity （Islamic investor） partners a public one. In Islamic finance, Sharia complaint instruments cannot be based on gharar, which is usually translated as risk, deception, delusion, and excessive uncertainty. The research methods mostly used in the article are analysis and critique of scientific literature with respect to risk of operation of public entities and risk in Islamic finance as well as public-private partnerships. The basic conclusion is that the adopted interpretations of risk in selected theories of conventional finance and the foundations of Islamic economy indicate that joint projects related to infrastructure are feasible.

中国旅游PPP的空间特征与影响因素研究

中国的PPP发展具有显著的空间差异特征。借鉴EIU的PPP环境评价指标体系,对中国旅游PPP发展的环境适宜性进行定性分析。基于财政部PPP项目库的旅游PPP项目,对旅游PPP的空间分布格局和特征进行分析。通过地理探测器的方法对旅游PPP空间格局的影响因素进行识别、测度和分析,研究发现中国旅游PPP具备了较好的发展基础,但也存在较大的提升空间,其项目分布存在显著的空间分异,在实施规范方面有所不足。研究还发现,旅游PPP发展是诸多因素综合影响的结果,但起关键作用的主要是融资因素。

Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the U.S.and Germany

Her objective is to speak about public private partnerships in the USA. In Germany there is a growing interest to initialise and to improvepublic private co -- olperations. She had a chance to have close look at the American approach while she was an intern in the Washington

Energy recovery from solid wastes in China and a Green-BRI mechanism for advancing sustainable waste management of the global South

The only proven alternative for the recovery of value from materials that cannot be recycled is waste to energy(WTE).The first part of the paper provides evidence as to the advantages of WTE over landfilling and examines the role of WTE in the urban environment.The second part of the paper is a holistic analysis of the legislative instruments used in China,that have led to the construction of nearly 400 plants from 2005 to 2019.The Chinese government was instrumental in the development of Public and Private Partnerships(PPPs),in form of Build-Operate-Transfer(BOT),or Build-Own-Operate(BOO)models with a lifetime of 20 years to 30 years.The government accepts most of the investment risk by participating in the equity structure,providing strong tax and policy incentives,and becoming fully engaged in public education and acceptance of new WTE projects.The construction and operation of these plants by the private sector had to comply with the governmental performance standards in order to receive incentives,such as an appreciable credit over the price of electricity received by coal-fired plants.The last part of this paper examines how the elements of the Chinese renewable energy and waste management laws,may be transposed to federal and state legislation for potential application in countries of the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)region.

政企合作模式下流域综合整治效果的居民满意度分析——以浙江省丽水丽阳溪水系综合整治为例

2015年,浙江省提出以治水为突破口推进社会经济转型升级,在考虑成本—收益的情况下,政府和社会资本合作(Public Private Partnership,PPP)模式应运而生。通过对丽水市丽阳溪水系整治工程项目所在地进行实地调研,探究居民对采用PPP模式治理综合流域效果的满意程度,结果表明:(1)企业流域污染治理与流域水环境质量有着显著的正向关系。(2)政府长期维护与流域水环境质量有着显著的正向关系。(3)男性调查群体中,政府政策宣传对流域水环境质量满意度的影响较为显著;女性调查群体中,政府长期维护对流域水环境质量满意度更为显著。(4)居民文化程度越高,企业流域污染治理对流域水环境质量满意度的正向影响作用越大。

Finance infrastructure through blockchain-based tokenization

The infrastructure finance gap has long-standing implications for economic and social development.Owing to low efficiency,high transaction costs,and long transaction time,conventional infrastructure financing instruments are considered to be major contributors to the increasing mismatch between the need for infrastructure development and available financing.Implemented through smart contracts,blockchain tokenization has shown characteristics that are poised to change the capital stack of infrastructure investment.This study analyzed the first SEC-compliant energy asset security token,Ziyen-Coin,from the perspective of the key participants,relevant regulations,and token offering procedures.Results show that tokenization can improve infrastructure assets liquidity,transaction efficiency,and transparency across intermediaries.Conventional infrastructure financing instruments were compared with blockchain tokenization by reviewing the literature on infrastructure finance.The benefits and barriers of tokenizing infrastructure assets were thoroughly discussed to devise ways of improving infrastructure financing.The study also found that the potential of tokenization has not yet been fully realized because of the limited technical infrastructures,regulation uncertainties,volatilities in the token market,and absence of the public sector.This study contributes to the present understanding of how blockchain technology can be implemented in infrastructure finance and the role of tokenization in the structure of public-private partnership and project finance.