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HEATCO, Developing harmonised European approaches for transport costing and project assessment. Deliverable 7 : Final technical report Bickel, Peter et al

By: Publication details: Stuttgart University of Stuttgart. Institute of Energy Economics and the Rational Use of Energy, IER, 2006Description: 20 sSubject(s): Online resources: Abstract: The specific objectives of HEATCO were: To develop a set of harmonised guidelines for project assessment and transport costing on the EU level in the areas: Value of time and congestion, Value of accident risk reduction, Costs from health impacts and costs of other nuisances due to pollutants and noise, Wider economic effects, i.e. indirect effects, Infrastructure costs, General CBA aspects; e.g. inter- and intragenerational distribution, risk and uncertainty. Starting point was the compilation and analysis of the national assessment practice in EU25 member states and Switzerland, which was carried out in the first project phase. Based on this, common definitions and consistent valuation methods were agreed. The framework is based on welfare economics and cost-benefit analysis. - To achieve as much as possible convergence of national guidelines within an international framework by organising interaction with policy makers and other relevant stakeholders. The design of harmonised guidelines was not a straightforward task. The gap between research and practice is large and can certainly not be bridged by research alone. In addition many vested (though legitimate) interests exist in the various guidelines for economic appraisal in different countries. In order to propose guidelines at EU level, the existing differences in guidelines required a careful mediation and uncovering of underlying assumptions and preferences. Therefore, a process approach was required rather than a linear sequence of development tasks. As a consequence a cyclical approach with a series of meetings was established. In cases of non-convergence different options were proposed in order to bridge the gap or insight was provided for the existence of different practices. - To conduct surveys for selected impacts Contingent-valuation studies for valuing noise annoyance and travel time changes were carried out in Norway, the UK, Spain, Hungary, Germany and Sweden to explore differences from different geographical, cultural and traffic conditions. - To perform case studies on a number of TEN transport infrastructure projects. The assessment framework was demonstrated by applying it to selected TEN transportprojects and comparing the results with those of existing CBAs. The main focus of HEATCO was major European infrastructure projects, for which a sound evaluation scheme was established that in the long run may become a standard procedure. This report summarises the work undertaken in HEATCO for achieving following results: - An overview of existing national transport infrastructure project assessment practice in EU25 member states and Switzerland (see chapter 2). - A set of harmonised guidelines for project assessment and transport costing on the EU level as described above (see chapter 5) - A set of monetary values for noise annoyance based on a number of contingent valuation studies in different countries with different geographical, cultural and traffic conditions (see chapter 4). - A set of case studies illustrating the applicability of the proposed guidelines and comparing the results with those of existing CBAs (see chapter 6).
Item type: Reports, conferences, monographs
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The specific objectives of HEATCO were: To develop a set of harmonised guidelines for project assessment and transport costing on the EU level in the areas: Value of time and congestion, Value of accident risk reduction, Costs from health impacts and costs of other nuisances due to pollutants and noise, Wider economic effects, i.e. indirect effects, Infrastructure costs, General CBA aspects; e.g. inter- and intragenerational distribution, risk and uncertainty. Starting point was the compilation and analysis of the national assessment practice in EU25 member states and Switzerland, which was carried out in the first project phase. Based on this, common definitions and consistent valuation methods were agreed. The framework is based on welfare economics and cost-benefit analysis. - To achieve as much as possible convergence of national guidelines within an international framework by organising interaction with policy makers and other relevant stakeholders. The design of harmonised guidelines was not a straightforward task. The gap between research and practice is large and can certainly not be bridged by research alone. In addition many vested (though legitimate) interests exist in the various guidelines for economic appraisal in different countries. In order to propose guidelines at EU level, the existing differences in guidelines required a careful mediation and uncovering of underlying assumptions and preferences. Therefore, a process approach was required rather than a linear sequence of development tasks. As a consequence a cyclical approach with a series of meetings was established. In cases of non-convergence different options were proposed in order to bridge the gap or insight was provided for the existence of different practices. - To conduct surveys for selected impacts Contingent-valuation studies for valuing noise annoyance and travel time changes were carried out in Norway, the UK, Spain, Hungary, Germany and Sweden to explore differences from different geographical, cultural and traffic conditions. - To perform case studies on a number of TEN transport infrastructure projects. The assessment framework was demonstrated by applying it to selected TEN transportprojects and comparing the results with those of existing CBAs. The main focus of HEATCO was major European infrastructure projects, for which a sound evaluation scheme was established that in the long run may become a standard procedure. This report summarises the work undertaken in HEATCO for achieving following results: - An overview of existing national transport infrastructure project assessment practice in EU25 member states and Switzerland (see chapter 2). - A set of harmonised guidelines for project assessment and transport costing on the EU level as described above (see chapter 5) - A set of monetary values for noise annoyance based on a number of contingent valuation studies in different countries with different geographical, cultural and traffic conditions (see chapter 4). - A set of case studies illustrating the applicability of the proposed guidelines and comparing the results with those of existing CBAs (see chapter 6).