Identifying Factors Affecting the Sustainability of Water Environment Treatment Public‐Private Partnership Projects

Abstract

Sustainability has recently been acknowledged as a crucial issue in infrastructure projects. Developing a model to evaluate project sustainability according to sustainability indicators plays a major role in promoting the sustainable development of water environment treatment public-private partnership (PPP) projects. Traditional sustainability assessments are mostly based on the triple bottom line (economic, social, and environmental) and lack a more integrated indicator system. To connect the research gap, this paper identifies 27 factors that affect the sustainability of water environment treatment PPP projects from five dimensions: economy, society, resources and environment, engineering, and project management using exploratory factor analysis. The fitting degree between the model and original data is verified by confirmatory factor analysis. The results showed that the fitting was successful. This paper makes two contributions: first, it provides a comprehensive sustainability evaluation indicator system from five aspects, laying a foundation for the evaluation of project sustainability. Second, this study defines a methodology to evaluate and rank factors, identifies the indicators that show the most significant impact on project sustainability in the five dimensions, which provide a reliable reference for the public and private sector to take appropriate measures to improve the sustainability level of water environment treatment public-private partnership projects.

Toward Life Cycle Sustainability in Infrastructure: The Role of Automation and Robotics in PPP Projects

“…Extending the assessment beyond the TBL categories thus appropriately reflects the integration of tools and technologies available to the industry, governmental policies and societal needs [39]. Li et al [43] also state that comprehensive evaluation indicators are often missing or cannot be mapped to existing TBL dimensions. Consequently, they integrate engineering and project management sustainability for a holistic examination of PPP projects.…”

“…The engineering perspective includes technical areas that require consideration due to the complexity of infrastructure projects [40]. Project management complements communication aspects, soft skills or human resources management as factors for successful project implementation [43].…”

“…Nevertheless, the definition of suitable indicators as one of the biggest challenges in sustainability assessment [44]. This paper makes reference to the sustainability dimensions and indicators of Li et al [43] (Table 1). Their work examines PPP projects in urban water treatment, but many of the indicators are general [45,46] and therefore applicable to other infrastructure types.…”

Critical Factors to Achieve Sustainability of Public-Private Partnership Projects in the Water Sector: A Stakeholder-Oriented Network Perspective

“…To study the sustainability of PPP, the industry context of PPP's background cannot be ignored [31]. PPP is one of the few options for attracting investment in the water sector while meeting strict environmental standards [32], making it necessary and valuable to study the sustainability of the water PPP projects [33]. It remains a question whether the long-term sustainability of water PPP projects can be achieved [32].…”

Water Resource Management and Sustainability in Kipkelion West Sub-County, Kenya

“…Sustainable water resource management includes both water availability and usability without compromising its quality. Sustainable water resource management should meet the socio-economic and environmental needs of society [2][3][4]. To understand the water quantity demand, there is a need to understand the geographical profile, natural and human resources, socio-economic structures, and the features of water resources in the region [5].…”