Evaluatie van infrastructuurprojecten; leidraad voor kosten-batenanalyse

This large-scale research programme has produced about ten reports, which are integrated into this guide for cost-benefit analysis. These reports are primarily aimed at large projects. For smaller projects some effects (such as indirect effects) do not have to be examined, or not as extensively as for large projects. In this summary we first take a look at cost-benefit analysis as a tool for project evaluation. Then we go into several important parts of a cost-benefit analysis. We also look at risk and flexibility in decisions on infrastructural projects.

Finally, we draw some conclusions:

• A thorough and complete cost-benefit analysis is an indispensable tool in evaluating transport infrastructure projects. For large projects, the indirect economic effects (effects on clusters) should be taken into account explicitly, as the reasons for such projects usually involve 'strategic' considerations.
• In assessing costs and benefits of infrastructural projects, it is important to include the possible benefits of flexible investment strategies, which are robust to very different developments of economic growth, reactions of competitors and other key determinants of the results. Moreover, uncertainties should be taken into account by adding a (project-specific) risk premium to the discount rate.
• The OEEI research program has resulted in a broad consensus among research institutes on the importance of cost-benefit analysis in the evaluation of major infrastructural projects and on the outlines of the way in which such analysis needs to be made. We believe that we have taken an important step towards improving the scientific basis for decisions on infrastructure.

This publication is in Dutch.