Developing a framework of retained risk in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) social infrastructure projects

This paper discusses a framework to simulate the factors associated with the risks in PPP social infrastructure projects. In PPPs, a complex series of financing arrangements distribute the different risk among the stakeholders involved in the project. Risks over time in social infrastructure projects are not as clear-cut as they may first appear to be. The risks inherent to social infrastructure is more complex to manage and foresee because they require higher levels of design and user consultation. Social infrastructure PPPs are often situated within a complex political contexts. This paper aims to develop an integrated framework to define and manage retained risks within the project governing structure. The applicability of the framework and processes has been demonstrated using a hypothetical case study in the manuscript. This case study is based on authors' research into Southern Cross Station, a hybrid social and economic infrastructure project in Melbourne Australia.