A functional design of a cost benefit analysis methodology for transport infrastructure projects

The development of a transport infrastructure network is one of the critical factors contributing to the economic growth of regions. However, the challenge to transport infrastructure network extension is to mobilize and allocate limited resources for potential projects that can maximize socio-economic benefits and minimize project risk. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is one of the `common' methods used for project proposal evaluation and it has been applied in a range of fields to provide comparisons. Many scholars have proposed methods, tools, techniques and procedures in CBA, but the current challenge to evaluators is to determine feasible methods for assessments. In addition, the socio-economic factors associated with transport infrastructure projects are varied and may have great impacts on project success. Thus, the need to develop CBA methodology that is able to capture key socio-economic factors and enable practitioners to select methods for project evaluation is crucial. In line with this, a functional design for CBA methodology was used to establish a generic framework with assessment functions. The significance of this paper is to propose a functional design approach to CBA methodology to deal with critical issues regarding assessment method selection. This approach also provides a holistic picture of project evaluation via the main processes of CBA system deployment.