Taiwan’s High-Speed Rail: A Public-Private Partnership Hits a Speed Bump Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

This case traces the progress of Taiwan's high-speed railway from project beginning in the late 1980s until its fiscal difficulty in 2009 describing the planning attempts, ridership projections, fiscal strategies and cost-benefit analysis involved in the project, along with the contracting process for the endeavor. This endeavor was one of the largest infrastructure projects on earth and one of the largest infrastructure projects ever built, using a "public-private partnership" (PPP) - a process for infrastructure development where the private sector would build and run a job for numerous decades and then transfer possession to the authorities.

Nonetheless, in 2009, subsequent to just two years of operation, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC), the private consortium accountable for building and managing the high-speed rail system, was in deep financial trouble due to low ridership and the global economic crisis. Unable to reimburse the principal on its bank loans, the President of THSRC requested a meeting with Taiwan's Minister of Transportation and Communications requesting to hand the coercion over to the administration to run. THSRC demanded that reimbursement be set by a sovereign third party, as supplied for in the event of a direction takeover in the government’s first contract with the firm. Readers are left with the question of what the Minister of Communications and Transportation of Taiwan should do in response to the request of THSRC. The case can be used in class discussions on the management of public-private partnerships, government procurement/contracting, and on decision making. HKS Case Number 1910.0

Taiwan's High-Speed Rail A Public-Private Partnership Hits a Speed Bump case study solution

PUBLICATION DATE: October 05, 2010 PRODUCT #: HKS671-PDF-ENG

This is just an excerpt. This case is about STRATEGY & EXECUTION

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