Lessons from Taiwan High Speed Railway PPP project

Prof Kuang-shih Yeh, Professor of Organization Management, National Chengchi University in Taiwan, also the former Minister of Transportation and Communications of Taiwan, presented in a research seminar held at CityU on 23rd January. This seminar was jointly organised by the College of Business and Research Centre on One-Belt-One-Road. Titled “Lessons from Taiwan High Speed Railway PPP Projects”, Prof Yeh shared with public his experience in building this high speed train, one of the largest privately managed and funded Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects in the world.

The Taiwan High Speed Railway Project was constructed in 2000 and is being operated by Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation. Running under a BOT model, one of the common forms of Public-Private-Partnership (PPP), the railway is built and operated by a business enterprise but eventually will be transferred to the government upon a certain period of time. The BOT model aims to encourage participation and investment from the private sector in long-term government infrastructure.

Prof Yeh introduced the project background, the BOT financial model and its application in the railway, the legal and administrative issues in the collaboration, several financial crises encountered and the solutions to overcome them, etc. He also emphasised on the increasing importance of implementing the BOT model in infrastructure constructions, and its benefits to the government and society.

During his service at the government, Prof Yeh had served as the Minister and Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications, Deputy Minister of Research, Development and Evaluation Commission. He completed several significant projects, including the founding of the Taoyuan Airport Corporation and the Taiwan International Ports Corporation, and managing major highways construction and railways upgrading projects.

Prof Yeh is the author of eight well-known management books and more than 50 academic articles. His research has been published in journals including Harvard Business Review, American Journal of Sociology, Journal of World Business, and International Business Review. His teaching and research fields are in family business, organization management, entrepreneurship and corporate governance.