Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) for Smart Transport Infrastructure Development: A Promising Approach and Potential Risks

There is a growing body of literature examining the benefits and downsides of smart transport infrastructure development. Particularly, the integration of advanced technology regarding the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) within smart transport infrastructure systems provides promising solutions in coping with significant problems of urban cities, including rapid population growth, environmental pollution, and traffic jam. However, the lack of expertise and huge financial funding for smart transport projects may create potential risks during the implementation and operation stage in practice. Even though recent studies have provided some suggestions for the use of hybrid Public–Private Partnership (PPP) models for financial rising and allocation, there still have been some “unknown” aspects of smart transport infrastructure projects that are not completely captured with high consideration and detailed evaluation. Thus, this study aims to investigate the potential risks of applying PPP models for smart infrastructure development through reviewing articles indexed by Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and ScienceDirect from 2010 until the present. The initial results released that 19 critical risks were categorized into five main groups (political-legal, technological-technical, economic-financial, social, and environmental) that highly contribute to the success of smart transport infrastructure implementation.