Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation of the Critical Success Factors for the Sustainability of Public Private Partnership Projects in China

Abstract

Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects have attracted wide attention from academia and industry over the past 20 years, however, they have been plagued by certain factors. This study identified, classified, and evaluated the success factors that may affect PPP projects for achieving sustainability. First, a list of 32 critical success factors were categorized into 3 groups, then a questionnaire survey was conducted, with 108 responses received from experts, researchers, and PPP project managers in China. Second, using a fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) method, stakeholder relationships (A1–A10), external environmental (B1–B8), and project management of a special purpose vehicle (C1–C14) collected data at three different factor group locations in PPP projects were used in this evaluation. The results obtained nine top factors: private sector financing capacity, government credit, government commitment or guarantee, completeness of legal framework, available financial markets, the feasibility study report and implementation, effectiveness of risk management, project investment, and cost control and revenue distribution. It was demonstrated that fuzzy synthetic evaluation techniques are quite appropriate techniques for PPP projects. The research findings should impact on policy development towards PPP and Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project governance.