Public private partnership (PPP) in road projects: critical success factors in the Indian context

The Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) have come a long way into the road infrastructure projects in India. A mix of Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) type toll or annuities where laws, regulations, institutions, modalities, funding, sub national development, expansion into non-traditional areas for PPP etc., are being developed for implementation. The current approaches for selection of PPP road projects are based upon assessment of combined effects of both financial and non-financial (risks and opportunities) without considering all relevant success factors to evaluate a given project. This paper tries to identify the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for Indian PPP Highways projects and their relative importance to assess the projects viability. These CSFs thus can help in selecting/evaluating the projects put to developers for bidding under provisions of model concession agreement (MCA). A sensitivity analysis is carried out on subjective judgment of developers without appropriate formalism for non financial aspects.