Study On Concessionaire Selection Of BOT Projects

In recent years, as a financing and management mode of large projects, BOT project has been widely applied in areas such as infrastructure and public utilities projects, etc. In the BOT project, the government selects the concessionaire by means of bidding. Then the concessionaire will establish a project company to responsible for project financing, design and construction. And in the concession period, the project company will in charge of the operation and maintenance of the project. When the concession period comes to an end, the project will be handed over to the government. So the capability of the concessionaire is vital to a BOT project’s success. But in the practice of BOT projects in our country, it is lack of effective selection criteria to evaluate the concessionaires’capabilities.In this background, this study summarized the selection criteria of concessionaire that proposed by previous scholars and analyzed the characteristics of BOT projects and the attributes of concessionaire, which through literature retrieval and analysis. Based on work above, this paper build up a selection criteria system of concessionaire which present the capability of concessionaires, including financial ability, technical ability, the HSE(health, safety, environment) ability and management ability. There are23specific indicators in this system. On the other hand, studies of BOT projects performance evaluation criteria are summarized and the characteristics of BOT projects performance evaluation and the principle of "4E" are discussed. Then this paper build up an evaluation criteria system of BOT projects performance in which three dimensions and12specific indicators are included. In the end, this paper put forward several hypotheses that the concessionaires’abilities affects the performance of BOT projects and builds up a selection model of concessionaires of BOT projects, which are empirical tested. The conclusions of the study can be concluded as below:Firstly, the financial ability of concessionaires significantly affects the financial performance and cooperation performance of BOT projects. Secondly, the technical ability of concessionaires significantly affects the financial performance and social and environmental performance of BOT projects. Thirdly, the HSE ability of concessionaires significantly affects in the social and environmental performance of BOT projects. Fourthly, the management ability of concessionaires significantly affects the financial performance and cooperation performance of BOT projects.Considering the impact level, the financial ability and technical ability of concessionaires have a bigger influence on the financial performance than the management ability. The HSE ability of concessionaires only affects the social and environmental performance, but the influence is great. As also the technical ability has an impact on the social and environmental performance. The financial ability and management ability of concessionaires affects the cooperation performance of BOT projects in the same level.The results of this paper may provide some reference for government in choosing the concessionaires of BOT projects. In order to improve the project performance, financial ability and technical ability of concessionaires should be focused on. But the HSE ability is also necessary for the social and environmental performance of BOT projects. Meanwhile, the management ability should be taken into consideration, since it has a very good support effect on the project’s operating and affects the project’s cooperation performance.