Assessment
In the economic evaluation of projects, TRT’s activities cover both methodological and applied aspects. On the methodological one, TRT has been the team leader of the EVA-TREN project for the Directorate Transport and Energy of the European Commission, on the innovative tools and decision-aid methods to support the evaluation of investment for transport and energy infrastructures, and recently updated the Guide to Cost Benefit Analysis of Investment Projects which may be financed by Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund.
On the applied aspect, TRT has carried out detailed cost-benefit assessments for strategic transport plans and for infrastructural investments, in the railway and road sector, including some of the most relevant motorway projects in Italy. The technical expertise is accompanied by a constant focus on communication and sharing with different involved actors both on the results and the approach. This interest led to draw up and promote, together with Metis consortium, the White Paper “Conflitti territoriali e infrastrutture di trasporto”.
TRT has also developed risk analysis of financial investment plans using the ®RISK application, aimed at developing financial plans for lending institutions.
TRT has realized a own software, EIM: Economic Impact Module, for
the evaluation of specific projects, plans and policy measures in
the transport field.
Main projects
Evaluation Unit, DG Regional Policy, European Commission
2007-2008
Cost Benefit Analysis Guide
Cost benefit analysis (CBA) of investment projects is explicitly
required by the new EU Regulations for Structural Funds (SF),
Cohesion Fund (CF) and Instrument for Pre-Accession countries (ISPA),
for projects with a budget upper than to, respectively, 50 MEuro,
10 MEuro and 5 MEuro.
The CBA Guide is intended to be an operational manual, supporting
the Evaluation Unit as well as the geographical Units, DG Regional
Policy, and other Commission Services in their need to assess and
check the completeness and appropriateness of the applications to
Funds received by the applicant Member States. At the same time
the CBA Guide will suggest state-of-the-art approaches to project
analysis for all the other actors involved.
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Download the guide
European Commission
2006-2009
EVATREN - Improved decision-aid methods and tools to support
evaluation of investment for transport and energy networks in
Europe
The EVA TREN project was a research study supported by the
European Commission and developed within the VI Framework
Programme.
The main objectives of the study were:
- reviewing the ex ante assessment approaches for large
infrastructure projects;
- selecting the best practices;
- improving the assessment methodologies for the ex-ante
evaluation through the ex post evaluation;
- developing a document containing evaluation guidelines on the
topic.
European Commission, Directorate-General Transport and Energy
2007-2010
ENACT - Design appropriate contractual relationships
The increasing involvement of the private sector – mostly in
Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) – in the provision of assets and/or
services previously provided directly by the states raises significant
questions about the application of socially optimal pricing schemes such
as Social Marginal Cost (SMC) pricing. Private engagement entails allowing
adequate rates of return in a purely financial perspective, which is too
often incompatible with SMC pricing principes.The results of the project
will serve as the basis of a set of Guidelines to establish a Common
European Policy/Regulatory Framework for socially optimal SMC pricing
obligations in Public-Private Partnerships in the provision of transport
infrastructure and/or services.
