The South African National Roads Agency Ltd (SANRAL) is the custodian of the 9 208km national road network in South Africa. SANRAL's mandate is to develop, maintain and operate this national economic asset. 26,3°/o of the national road network consists of toll roads. The operation and maintenance of the toll facilities are let by SANRAL through a public open tender process. The successful tenderer is then appointed by SANRAL on a contract basis as the toll road operator. The operation and management of toll facilities involve various technical and managerial disciplines, such as electrical, mechanical and civil engineering, toll collection, and operations management. Historically, toll operations contracts were fragmented into separate sub-contracts for each of the disciplines. This resulted in a substantial amount of project management input from SANRAL. In addition to SANRAL's high level of management input, it also carried the risk of fraud. SANRAL had no incentives for a toll operator to increase the toll revenues, neither did it impose any penalties for poor performance. In order to simplify the project structure, as well as to improve on the old toll contract format, SANRAL developed a new toll operations contract model, aptly named Comprehensive Toll Road Operations and Maintenance or CTROM (C-T -ROM). Amongst others, the benefits of the new contract format are: • That it simplifies SANRAL's management input by providing a single point of contact between SANRAL and a principal toll operator, under whose supervision all the sub-contractors reside. The toll operator therefore assumes the responsibility and accountability to manage the sub-contractors. • The introduction of penalties that are imposed on the toll operator, should he not perform his contractually specified duties and obligations. • The transfer of fraud risk to the toll operator. • An increase in the toll revenue by offering the toll operator a revenue-sharing incentive. The first contracts let under the CTROM format were the N2 North Coast Toll Road and the N2 South Coast Toll Road in July 2001. As these toll routes had been in operation for a while before the CTROM contracts were procured, comparisons could be made on the pre-CTROM and post-CTROM costs. Initial indications were, although there were some structural differences between the old and the new format, that these two CTROM contracts were between 7 and 13°/o more expensive than their predecessors. An extrapolation of these values to all the current CTROM contracts results in additional costs to SANRAL of between R 10m and R 20m per annum, when compared to the previously used managed contract format. The more expensive CTROM contracts have brought about significant benefits, such as the tra'nsfer of fraud risk from SANRAL to the toll operator, as well as a simpler project structure in the form of a single point of responsibility. The intention of this research report is to determine whether the increase in cost has been worthwhile, and whether there are areas for further improvement. In other words, are the more expensive CTROM contracts providing SANRAL with an associated increase in value for its money? Not only is SANRAL concerned with the prudential expenditure of its toll revenues, but it is also under legislated obligations to ensure that funds are spent in the most appropriate and efficient ways. In order to better understand value for money and related concepts, the author explores various academic theories in the form of a literature study. By building a platform from which to conduct further analyses, the author can then apply the newly found knowledge to test the hypothesis that SANRAL is not achieving optimal value for money on its CTROM contracts. Concepts and theories that are studied in the literature review include: • The legislative and institutional framework; and • Key terminology such as risk management, the public sector comparator, value for money, and performance penalties on contracts. Many of the concepts have been explored worldwide, especially in developed countries such as Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, where those countries' governments actively encourage private sector investment in public infrastructure. In the analytical part of the research report, the author explores the causes of the additional costs on two of SANRAL's toll routes, namely: • The Mariannhill Toll Route, which is located on the N3 between Pinetown and Key Ridge in the province of KwaZulu-Natal; and • The N 17 Toll Route between Springs and Wemmer Pan in the province of Gauteng. The analyses suggest that the operations and maintenance (O&M) costs of the N3 Mariannhill and N 17 toll routes under the CTROM contracts are 46,3°/o and 20,4°/o more expensive than on the previous contracts. Some of the factors that could play a role in the increased cost of the CTROM contracts are: • The contract duration; • Risk transfer to the toll operator; • Penalties applied when the toll operator does not conform to the required specifications; and • Complex performance specifications. University of Pretoria Graduate School of Management MBA Research Report RPJ820 v P Suremann 91052719 October 2004 Digitised by the University of Pretoria, Library Services, 2014 The author concludes that there are a number of factors that negatively influence the cost of the CTROM contracts. The author therefore recommends that the factors that are within the control of SANRAL be changed. These improvements should bring about better value for money on SANRAL's toll operations contracts. / Dissertation (MAdmin)--University of Pretoria, 2004. / gm2014 / School of Public Management and Administration / unrestricted

一帶一路倡議是中國第五代領導人的政策之一，應該被視為整體戰略的一部分。為了評估一帶一路倡議的實際目的與風險，研究中國地緣政治與社會經濟局勢、前幾代中國領導人的政策（如西部大開發）、現任第五代領導人的政策（如中國夢與四個全面）。雖然並非與其它相關的分析相互排斥，結論指出一帶一路與第五代領導人其它政策具有協同效應、同時面對相對的急迫性，是中國第五代領導人經濟改革、輸出國營企業生產能力過剩、減輕資產泡沫破裂風險的工具之一。 / The Belt and Road Initiative is one corner of the Chinese fifth-generation leadership’s policymaking under the Xi Jinping administration, and should be understood as part of a cohesive whole. This study assesses the BRI, its actual goals, and its risks when analyzed alongside China’s geostrategic and socioeconomic positions, similar policies from previous generations of Chinese leadership such as the Western Development Strategy, and existing concurrent policies from the fifth-generation Chinese leadership such as the Chinese Dream and the Four Comprehensives. While not mutually exclusive with other explanations proposed for the BRI, this study suggests that due to its synergy with existing policies and its exceptional urgency, the fifth-generation leadership primarily uses the BRI as one tool amongst many to accommodate its economic reform, to export the production overcapacity of state-owned enterprises, and to mitigate any risks of an asset bubble collapse.

The European Union (EU) is a key trading partner for the People's Republic of China (PRC). Nearly one third of PRC's production is send to the EU and half of EU exports is directed to the PRC. Such huge trade volumes require an appropriate logistical connection, which is currently dominated by maritime transport. However, since 2007 railway transport has also been available. The aim of this dissertation is to evaluate the position of the railway transport of the PRC European route (with focus on the position of the Czech Republic) with regard to its development, obstacles and potential for the future. Firstly, the paper describes the background and reasons for the establishment of the New Silk Road (One Belt One Road initiative), followed by the trade and economic cooperation between the PRC and the Czech Republic. The practical part deals with individual aspects of railway connection. Neither in terms of trade volumes nor price can railway compete with the maritime solution, nevertheless it slowly but surely acquires its first regular customers.

There has been a good effort made in Abu Dhabi for the last couple of years between government stakeholders to develop a road safety strategy, define rules and responsibilities, and gain a fully coordinated and integrated framework to deal with road safety. According to my point of view, the challenges that might be seen as a problem for the future development of Abu Dhabi can be the management and the usage of traffic safety technologies to reduce serious road traffic accidents. This study focused on the relationship between the use of traffic safety technologies and serious road traffic accidents on Abu Dhabi Highways. The motivation for this research is to implement correctly the traffic safety technologies in Abu Dhabi highways as a part of the need to adopt plans, programmes, and preventive measures to reduce or prevent the occurrence of traffic accidents in order to ensure the safety of individuals and property, in addition to preserving the security of the state and its human and economic components. The overall approach to this study is a mixed methodology, which combines quantitative and qualitative methods. A questionnaire is one method used in this regard, and is designed to be quantitative. In the quantitative method, comparing statistics of fatalities and injuries before and after installation of the speed cameras is used. As a result of this study and by making the connectivity between reviewing the results and findings of the literature review, identifying the questionnaire results, and exploring the before and after statistics led to findings which were used to develop a decision support framework that can be used to advise the regional safety strategy to be sustainable. The design framework was also validated through Abu Dhabi highways by a panel of experts, which was carried out using the focus group method, which was qualitative in nature. It is recommended from this research to invest much in traffic safety technologies, focus more on driver support systems and rapid response systems, improve driver behaviour as a priority in Abu Dhabi highways using traffic safety technologies, and integrate the compatibility of all of the above through an integrated system and specific performance indicators that are measured and followed up on an ongoing basis, and supported by geographic information systems (GIS).

一帶一路倡議是中國最近的經濟發展策略，其目的是透過基礎設施發展和貿易，將中國與歐亞大陸的其他國家連結在一起。儘管並非單純為了能源所規劃的策略，但是倡議的組成部分對中國提供日增的能源需求扮演了一個角色。 本論文透過與1990 年代末中國走出去策略之比較，在中國能源需求的大架構下，檢驗一帶一路倡議。為評估一帶一路倡議對中國能源安全的影響，本論文首先界定中國對能源安全的見解，然後分析一帶一路計畫如何應對中國對能源安全的關切。 本論文發現一帶一路倡議可視為走出去策略的後續策略。此外，本論文也發現中國主要是透過供應的角度來觀察能源的安全，且一帶一路計畫（如，石油和天然氣管道的構築）確保了能源運輸的可靠性。 / The Belt and Road Initiative is China’s latest economic development strategy, which seeks to connect China to the rest of Eurasia through infrastructure development and trade. While not a dedicated energy strategy, components of the initiative will play a role in meeting China’s growing energy needs. This paper examines the Belt and Road Initiative in the greater context of China’s energy policy by comparing it to China’s “going-out” strategy of the late 1990s. It assesses the impact that Belt and Road projects will have on China’s energy security by first defining how China views its energy security and then analyzing how Belt and Road projects address China’s energy security concerns. This paper finds that the Belt and Road Initiative can be considered a successor to the“going-out” strategy. It also finds that China views energy security primarily through the lens of supply, and that Belt and Road projects such as port and pipeline construction contribute by ensuring reliability of transport.

In this paper, two parishes on Gotland have been the focus for intense study regarding the organisation and formation of local communications networks. The parishes of Buttle and Fröjel have been studied to see if it is possible to say anything about local communication during the 6th century, a task that earlier research has shown to be difficult. The parishes represent two different types of landscapes, one costal and one inland. The paper has also asked questions about how the development and quality of the roads and communications networks have changed over time. It also discuss how the topographical- and cultural landscape has influenced the organisation of the communications network. The following questions are asked in this paper; 1. How was local communication (communications between the farmstead, its economic resources and its connections to the larger communications network) in the parishes organised? 2. What can be said about the communications networks development and quality through time? 3. How was the topographical- and cultural landscape organisation connected to the communications network?   The main methodology used in the paper is the retrogressive methodology used to recreate a possible 6th century communications network. This methodology utilises and studies the relationship between the earliest known communications network, registered in the 18th century maps, together with Iron Age sites registered, in the FMIS database, as well as topographical and geological maps to recreate a possible 6th century communications network. The analysis shows that it is hard to grasp the local communications during the 6th century. The local communications only emerge when the local roads merge with the regional ones. In many cases, the local roads were probably not much more than paths in the edges of the fields or only identified by the use of known landmarks. The investigation also shows that the regional (and local) roads were situated closer to the 6th century settlements than previously thought. It is also shown that the development of the road network has steadily lead to a more refined and rationalised network. The largest changes can be related to the 19th century laga skifte and to the later introduction of motor vehicles. Before the 19th century the situation is quite stable, only some minor changes during the 18th century can be seen until you reach the beginning of the middle ages. The major changes probably relate to changes in the landscape organisation in relation to the introduction of Christianity. However, it might also relate to the expansion of cultivated land and the resulting changes of settlement patterns. The investigation also shows that the topographical landscape on Gotland provides little hindrance for the organisation of the landscape. Instead, it feels very much like an artificial landscape where borders and organisation are created by humans, rather than by natural landscape formations. The borders in this case are created by the use of graves and their location in the landscape.

The aim of the diploma thesis is the comparison of maritime and rail freight transport between Asia and Europe. The thesis focuses on characteristic of rail transport as an alternative mode of transport and identification of possibilities, how to increase its competitiveness towards to maritime transport. First part of the thesis analyses current situation in maritime and rail transport and focuses on their specifics and future potential. The practical part deals with the change of fictitious company´s logistics system. Maritime and rail transport are compared in terms of risks, costs and shipping time. The last part of thesis deals with possibilities of increasing competitiveness of rail transport in the future.

Constructing a road is a complex process that may be represented as a series of correlated steps, from the planning to the construction and usage of the new road. At the heart of this process, the preliminary and detailed design stages are key elements that will ensure the quality and the adequacy of the final solution regarding the constraints and objectives of the project. In particular, infrastructure layout and design will have a strong impact on the global performances of the road in operational conditions. Among them, road safety, mobility, environment preservation, noise pollution limitation, economic feasibility and viability of the project, or even its socio-economic impact at the local level. Consequently, it is crucial to offer engineers and road planners some tools and methods that may assist them in designing and selecting the most efficient solutions considering the distinctive features of each design problem. In this work, a multicriteria analysis methodology is developed to carry out an integrated and preventive assessment of road projects at the design stage by considering both their safety performances and some economic and environmental aspects. Its purpose is to support design engineers in the analysis of their projects and the identification of innovative, consistent and effective solutions. The proposed methodology is composed of two main research frameworks. On the one hand, the road design problem is addressed by focusing successively on the structuring of the multicriteria problem, the identification of the approximate set of non-dominated solutions using a genetic algorithm (based on NSGA-II), and the application of the methodology to a real road design project. On the other hand, the methodological development of a multicriteria interval clustering model was performed (based on PROMETHEE). Due to the applicability of this model to the studied problem, the interactions between the two frameworks are also analysed. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / The present PhD thesis is an aggregation of published contributions related to the application of multicriteria analysis to the evaluation of road projects at the design stage. The aim of the two introductory chapters is to offer a synthesised and critical presentation of the scientific contributions that constitute the PhD thesis. The complete version of the journal articles and preprints are found in Chapters 3 to 6. In the appendices, we also provide reprints of conference papers that are usually related to one of the main contributions of the thesis. / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

En beräkningsmodell utvecklas för att skatta miljöpåverkan och ekonomiska effekter vid vägunderhållet grusning. Beräkningsmodellen används för att kunna jämföra alternativa metoder för grusning. Beräkningsmodellen testas genom ett testscenario med tre alternativa metoder för grusning. I alternativ ett används nytt grus och i alternativ två och tre används återvunnet grus. Studiens resultat visar att beräkningsmodellen kan användas för att skatta kostnad och miljöbelastning. Testscenariot visar att det är ekonomiskt och miljömässigt fördelaktigt att använda återvunnet grus vid grusning. Ur ett samhällsperspektiv är det viktigt att belysa fördelarna med att använda återvunnet grus, då detta kan motivera att fler faktiskt väljer detta alternativ och då brytning av naturgrus är en energikrävande process som påverkar miljön negativt. Studiens syfte är att skapa förståelse för miljömässiga och ekonomiska effekter vid återvinning av grus vid grusvägsunderhåll. För att uppnå syftet genomförs en fallstudie som besvarar frågeställningen hur miljömässiga och ekonomiska effekter kan skattas på grusvägsunderhåll. / A calculation model is developed to estimate the environmental impact and economic effects of gravel road maintenance. The purpose of the calculation model is to be able to compare alternative methods for graveling. The calculation model is tested through a test scenario with three alternative methods for graveling. In alternative one, new gravel is used and in alternatives two and three recycled gravel is used. The study's results show that the model calculation can be used to estimate cost and environmental impact. The test scenario shows that it is economically and environmentally advantageous to use recycled gravel in graveling. From a societal perspective, it is important to highlight the benefits of using recycled gravel, as this may motivate more people to actually choose this alternative. Because mining of natural gravel is an energy-intensive process that has a negative impact on the environment. The purpose of the study is to create an understanding of the environmental and economic effects of recycling of gravel during gravel road maintenance. To achieve this, a case study is conducted that answers the question how environmental and economic impacts can be estimated on gravel road maintenance.

Sustainable transportation solutions are the goal for the future. With the technological shit happening in the transportation market towards electric vehicles, the electric road system (ERS) is a necessary technology required to reach the sustainability goals for the future. While many studies show the role of innovation in a socio-technical landscape, many neglect the diffusion process of the innovation which occurs to create a socio-technical change. The nature of this thesis is an exploratory case study with a qualitative approach. To address the study, a literature review for the diffusion of innovation, its characteristics, multi-level perspective, and technology readiness level (TRL) was presented in order to provide a better understanding and build a foundation for the research. A review of scientific articles regarding the electric road system was performed to provide insights and obtain information on the technology. The data from scientific articles were complemented by interviews from experts regarding electric road systems to obtain an understanding of technology if it was to be implemented in the future in Sweden. The empirics collected were analyzed using the literature framework and conclusions were drawn. Analyzing the data was required to find the factors hindering the technology and if there is a window of opportunity for the technology to exist in the Swedish market. Environmental sustainability has been the driving factor, but the rate of diffusion for the technology will depend on the complexity and the maturity of the technology to function as a whole working system. The study contributes to evaluating the implementation of an inductive electric road system in the Swedish context and if it could be a viable solution in the transportation market. The perspectives of the technology in the Swedish market and the motivation for the solution are discussed. An analytical contribution by evaluating if the technology could exist in the future and insights on the diffusion of the technology into the existing landscape.