Eight profit channels of PPP project

Introduction: How to improve the supply efficiency of public goods or services and ensure the proper profit of social capital is a problem that both public and private parties must face and work together to solve.

In essence, PPP is to improve the supply efficiency of public goods by means of social capital and competition (especially innovation). It pays attention to the output standard rather than the realization process, and is an incentive-compatible institutional arrangement. However, public and private parties usually have completely different interests. Government departments pay attention to the satisfaction of public demand, and social capital emphasizes profit acquisition (chapter of Trust Weekly).

Therefore, ensuring the appropriate profit of social capital is the key to avoid the shortage of relationship-specific investment, improve its enthusiasm for competition and innovation, and finally realize the common goal of government departments, social capital and the public. More * * * wins? Promote the success of PPP projects.

The necessity of profit model innovation of 1 PPP project

In the traditional way of thinking, PPP is just a new financing method for the government to carry out infrastructure construction or public utilities to alleviate its financial pressure. Social capital is invested in PPP projects through the acquisition of equity or assets, investment and financing construction, operation management or (and) providing services on demand, and government departments give social capital a reasonable return by transferring charging rights, paying feasibility gap subsidies or (and) paying government fees.

At this time, the focus of public and private attention is the return on investment or target return rate of social capital: too low return on investment or target return rate is not conducive to the enthusiasm of social capital, and even forces it to withdraw from infrastructure and public utilities; Higher investment return rate or target return rate will bring heavy financial burden to the government. Public and private parties pay too much attention to PPP projects? Input-return? The relationship between them, even in determining the return on investment or the target rate of return, shows a confrontational relationship, which violates the original intention of PPP partnership.

According to the data of the National Audit Office, by the end of June 20 13, the debts of governments at all levels in China were about 20.7 trillion yuan. How to monitor and resolve debt risks has attracted much attention from the outside world. In 20 14, the China municipal government began to vigorously promote the cooperation between the government and social capital (PPP) throughout the country, and intensively released PPP-related documents, among which? The State Council's opinion on strengthening local government debt management? What is the basic idea of (Guo Fa [2065438+04] No.43, hereinafter referred to as the State Council No.43)? Fix Ming Dow and block back channels? , that is, blocked? Local government financing platform company? This tunnel has built two public channels, national debt and PPP. However, the State Council Document No.43 not only encourages the use of PPP mode to resolve local debt, but also clearly points out? Local governments should strengthen the statistical analysis and risk prevention and control of contingent debts, and do a good job in relevant supervision? .

It can be seen that for those PPP projects (that is, non-operating and quasi-operating public projects) that need government payment or appropriate subsidies, it is not enough for government departments or social capital to focus only on the existing income and financial subsidies of this project, but also to innovate the profit model of PPP projects? Make the cake bigger? Therefore, the government can avoid the new contingent liabilities caused by PPP projects beyond the prescribed scope, and social capital can therefore reduce the confrontation with government departments in the return on investment or target rate of return, so as to realize its profits more smoothly.

2 PPP project profit model framework under the partnership

The successful implementation of PPP needs to be based on partnership thinking, and both public and private parties should abandon confrontational thinking, respect each other and actively participate in the project. Therefore, how to improve the supply efficiency of public goods or services and ensure the moderate profit of social capital is bound to be a problem that both public and private parties face and work together to solve. The innovation of profit model of PPP project is a problem that must be considered before determining the return on investment or target rate of return.

In real life, there is a hidden value exchange behind trading behavior, and there is a certain value exchange paradigm or mechanism, and the concept of profit model is to explain this value exchange paradigm or mechanism; Income and cost determine the economic value of an organization, while profit or profit level directly reflects the economic value of an enterprise. Therefore, the profit model usually refers to the income structure, cost structure and corresponding profit targets of stakeholders (Trust Weekly chapter). In view of this, based on typical cases in practice, this paper analyzes the profit model of PPP project from three aspects: income structure optimization, cost structure optimization and profit target stability (as shown in figure 1). It is worth noting that due to the limited number of cases collected in this study, there is still room for expansion of the tree framework of PPP project profit model shown in Figure 1.

note:

(1) Urban rail transit, urban comprehensive transportation hub, railway, port/wharf, reservoir, environmental management and other projects are bundled with resources development projects such as land, tourism and minerals;

② Medical care, education, old-age service facilities, venues, airport terminals and other projects are bundled with catering, property, greening and other supporting services;

③ By-products such as advertisements bundled with public toilets and garbage disposal facilities, energy-saving street lamps, urban bus stops, urban public transportation, highways and other projects, commercial houses bundled with affordable housing projects, and industrial salt production bundled with seawater desalination;

(4) Projects with relatively small investment scale will be used by or impress a specific group of people. If a specific group of people are potential customers of a commodity, the enterprise that produces the commodity can invest and name the project;

⑤ Urban rail transit and other projects with large investment scale and complicated specialties can be divided according to specialties, and appropriate financing methods can be selected respectively;

⑥ Small decentralized energy station (heating/cooling), sewage treatment (domestic and industrial) and garbage treatment (domestic and kitchen);

⑦ Urban water supply, energy station (heating/cooling), sewage treatment, garbage disposal and other areas where PPP development is relatively mature;

(8) It can be the bundling of projects with different profit and loss conditions in the same kind of public goods, such as the bundling of highway sections with different traffic flows, or the bundling of projects with different profit and loss conditions in different kinds of public goods with specific connections, such as the bundling of seawater desalination and power generation;

Pet-name ruby sewage treatment, garbage disposal, tunnels, bridges and other projects with mobile characteristics, as well as projects with unstable market such as charging new energy vehicles.

3 profit structure optimization of PPP project profit model

Income is the increase of wealth, including both monetary income and non-monetary income such as reputation enhancement and potential income. PPP projects can achieve profitability by optimizing the income structure.

1. Bundle private products to supplement income sources.

When the government wants the public goods or services obtained through PPP mode to be non-operating (there is no price mechanism and cash inflow, which mainly produces social benefits) or quasi-operating (there is price mechanism and cash inflow, but there is no operating profit, and the cost cannot be recovered), it can supplement appropriate private products for public goods or services and provide them in bundles, thus overcoming the problem of charging difficulties or insufficient fees, which is called the supply of public goods. ? Measures for the administration of infrastructure and public utilities franchising? (No.25 for short) clearly stipulates? If the fees charged to users are insufficient to cover the franchise construction, operating costs and reasonable income, the government may provide feasibility gap subsidies, including other development and operation rights granted by the government related to franchise projects? , thus fully affirming the legitimacy of this profit model.

(1) supplement the right to develop resources to make up for the lack of income.

By compensating the PPP project company, the government transfers the development right of a certain amount of resources (such as land, tourism, minerals, etc.) around infrastructure or public utility projects (such as subways, tunnels, environmental governance, etc.). ) To PPP project company, through bundling, the overall profitability of the project company can be improved, so as to ensure the reasonable return of project investors and mobilize the enthusiasm of investors, which is the so-called resource compensation project (RCP) financing model. For example:

(1) Hong Kong MTR Corporation (hereinafter referred to as? MTR? The profit model of) can be summarized as? Rail Transit+Real Estate Business? According to the income structure of MTR, the income from real estate business development accounts for more than 50% of the total income. For this reason, MTR has become one of the subway companies with the best service level, the highest operating efficiency and the most ideal profit in the world.

② In April 2004, the Victorian Government of Australia decided to build a world-class conference center next to the existing Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center on the Yalu River. The Victorian government determined the contracting consortium headed by the Plenary Session Group through bidding. Plenary consortium? As social capital, it is responsible for the development, design and construction of the project, and awarded the consortium a franchise period of 25 years. In order to improve the operability of the project, public and private parties have made plans to expand the business development around the conference center, including building office areas, residential areas, retail areas and five-star Hilton Hotel near the new Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center, and transforming an old sailboat named Polly woodside on the dock into a restaurant, thus significantly increasing it through the economic multiplier effect.

(2) Authorized to provide supporting services and expand the profit chain.

When the infrastructure or public utilities provided by PPP projects are completed and the normal operation needs corresponding supporting services, the government can authorize PPP project companies to provide such supporting services (such as catering, property management, greening, etc.) that can generate expected benefits, so as to create cash flow and make up for the financial infeasibility of the main project by extending the value chain. For example, the National Health Service (NHS) of the United Kingdom cooperated with Bywest in the West middlesex University Hospital Project. Bywest is responsible for its investment, financing and construction, and the West middlesex University Hospital Foundation is responsible for the operation and management of the project. In order to compensate and repay the construction investment of Bywest, all supporting services during the operation of the hospital will be handed over to Best Western Company, including catering, handling, safety, cleaning, maintenance and goods supply. The service period may be extended from 35 years to 60 years, and the service fee will be paid by the British government.

(3) Develop by-products and increase income sources.

When providing public goods or services required by the government, PPP project companies can generate more business by-products (such as advertisements and authorized use of intellectual property rights of architectural works) to make up for the financial infeasibility of the main product projects, such as the development of additional commercial houses in the price-limited housing projects in Guo Zhuangzi, Fengtai District, Beijing, and Huilongguan, Changping District, and the shops, restaurants, office buildings and garbage transfer stations for heightening toilets in Meizhou mode public toilets. The specific planning scheme can be proposed by the public * * * department, or planned by social capital and approved by the public * * * department.

The former, such as Syndylan, England, uses PFI to design, install, operate, maintain and finance city street lamps, signs and street equipment (30,500 lampposts and 6,000 road signs). The contract period is 30 years, and all equipment is required to be replaced within 5 years at the longest. The social capital in this project will get 2.65 million pounds at one time, which will be used to replace all the equipment in the first five years of the contract period. Thereafter, during the operation period, the third-party income (654.38+0.589 million pounds discounted * * *) will be used as maintenance investment, and the corresponding return will be obtained by operating lamp poles and road sign advertisements and increasing CCTV (note: closed circuit television) charges.

The latter, such as Germany, in order to make up for the lack of government funds and promote technological innovation in energy saving, water saving and environmental protection, put public toilets into market operation. 1990 auctioned the right to operate public toilets in Berlin, which was later called? King of toilets? Hans? Val promised to provide public toilet facilities and their maintenance and cleaning free of charge. At that time, his competitors thought he was crazy, so in the absence of competition, he promised to build toilets for free and only asked for a low management fee. Val Company won the right to operate public toilets in Berlin in one fell swoop. Val's profit point is obviously not in the coin slot of 0.5 euros at the door of the toilet, but its biggest source of income is the advertising operation of the external walls of these public toilets, which makes many external walls of toilets in Berlin become advertising walls, and the wall cost of Val's company is much lower than that of ordinary advertising companies, which makes many well-known companies such as Chanel, Apple and Nokia advertise on public toilets.

2, named * * * products, value-added social capital credit capital.

As far as social capital is concerned, the benefits that can add value to itself and contribute to its development are not limited to monetary forms, but also include non-monetary forms such as increasing popularity and potential benefits. Therefore, PPP projects can also be named * * * products to return social capital, and Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan is keen on this kind of PPP projects. For example, Toyota Motor Corporation donated 3.5 million yuan to build an overpass in Tianjin. Toyota bridge? Although Toyota Bridge can't generate any direct cash income, Toyota Motor Corporation has gained huge hidden reputation income by obtaining the naming right of the bridge. Another example: Toyota Motor Corporation is responsible for the home of the Houston Rockets, an NBA team? Toyota Center Arena? Investment and maintenance, but not responsible for its operation to recover the construction investment, but by naming the stadium, to attract rocket fans watching the game in Toyota Center Arena to buy Toyota cars.

4 PPP project profit model cost structure optimization

Cost is the monetary expression of resources that must be consumed by social capital investment construction and franchising. Therefore, the optimization of cost structure can not only reduce the one-time construction investment of social capital, but also reduce the unit product cost through economies of scale, and also reduce the daily operating cost through technological and management innovation.

1. Integrate financing mode and share construction investment.

For public projects with large investment scale during the construction period and insufficient expenses during the operation period, they can be appropriately divided, and only a part of them (closely related to the operation cost and efficiency) can be subdivided by PPP mode or different PPP modes, thus reducing the one-time construction investment of social capital for the project and improving its profitability. For example:

① The whole construction content of Beijing Metro Line 4 is divided into two parts: A (land acquisition, demolition and civil construction) and B (mechanical and electrical equipment procurement and installation). The Beijing Municipal Government only handed over part B (about 4.6 billion yuan), which accounts for 30% of the total investment, to Hong Kong MTR Corporation Limited (a listed company controlled by the Hong Kong SAR Government), Beijing Capital Venture Group Co., Ltd. (a local state-owned enterprise) and Beijing Infrastructure Investment Co., Ltd. (a local state-owned enterprise). In addition, SPV is also responsible for the operation and management of Metro Line 4, the maintenance of all facilities (including Part A and Part B), the asset renewal outside the tunnel and the commercial operation inside the station. After the franchise period (30 years) expires, part B of the project facilities will be handed over to the Beijing Municipal Government free of charge, and part A of the project facilities will be returned to Beijing Metro Line 4 Investment Co., Ltd. (Trust Weekly).

(2) Kunming Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system projects (including transportation hub stations, first and last stations, stations along the way and stop sign construction) have a large scale, and the charges are obviously insufficient, which makes them unattractive to private capital. Therefore, the Kunming municipal government has adopted the BOT-BT-TOT integrated financing model: the special road construction (including pavement construction, transportation hub station, first and last stations and stations) with large capital demand, good return on investment and long construction period is entrusted to Company A by BOT mode; The part of vehicle purchase and intelligent transportation system construction with relatively small capital demand, no charging mechanism and short construction period is handed over to company B in BT mode; After the construction of Company A is completed, the management right of the special driveway will be handed over to Company C through the lease agreement. At the same time, after the construction of Company B is completed and repurchased by the government, the government will hand over the management rights of vehicle purchase and intelligent transportation system to Company C. At this point, the whole BRT project will be operated by Company C in TOT mode.

2. Packaging operation forms scale effect and reduces unit product cost.

In PPP projects, social capital needs to invest in a certain scale of construction, or purchase the property rights or management rights of the project for a certain period of time. Then, if the demand for public goods or services is too small, the capacity of PPP projects will be surplus, resulting in poor profitability of social capital or the need for government financial subsidies. It can be seen that it is an idea to ensure the moderate scale demand of PPP projects, thus reducing the unit product cost.

Take the sewage treatment projects that are generally optimistic in the list of the first batch of PPP projects announced by various provinces as an example. The larger the scale, the more attractive it is to investors, while the small-scale projects basically have no income requirements for market-oriented operations. Therefore, for small-scale and scattered township sewage projects, the usual practice in China is to package and operate. One factory and one price? For example, Shenzhen Longgang 10 sewage treatment plant is packaged and transferred, and Hainan 16 sewage treatment plant is divided into two? Project package? Entrust operation projects, complete sets of investment projects of Jiangyin No.4 Sewage Treatment Plant, etc.

Another example is the BOT project of sewage packaging in Jiangxi Industrial Park: in August of 20 10, the Jiangxi provincial government promulgated the planning of Poyang Lake Ecological Economic Zone, which listed the construction of sewage treatment facilities in the industrial park as the first of the top ten energy-saving and emission-reduction projects, and required to complete the sewage treatment projects in the industrial park 102 in 20 15 years; 20 1 1 in may, Jiangxi provincial government and China energy conservation and environmental protection group signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation framework (planned daily processing capacity of 2.37 million tons, total investment14.6 billion). China Energy Saving Jiangxi Company (SPV) was established by Jiangxi Chengtou (20% contribution) and China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (80% contribution) to take charge of Jiangxi Province.

3, management or technological innovation, reduce operating costs.

Adopting PPP is not only to solve the shortage of funds in the public sector, but more importantly, to improve the supply efficiency of public goods with the help of the professionalism and innovation of social capital. Therefore, if social capital wants to expand its profit space, it must give full play to its initiative and innovation enthusiasm in the franchise process, and continuously reduce its operating costs through management or technological innovation.

For example, Niujiaochong Community in Changsha County, the eastern suburb of Changsha City, Hunan Province cooperates with Changsha Green Recycling Resources Co., Ltd.? Green cycle integral plan? Residents will get their own two-dimensional code after they register in Changsha Green Recycling Resources Co., Ltd. After the residents pack the recyclable garbage in their homes and put it in the special recycling box in the community, the company will transport the garbage to the recycling and sorting center, and determine the residents' information by scanning the two-dimensional code, and convert it into points according to the type and quantity of garbage and enter it into the user's account. After the garbage points of residents' QR code reach a certain amount, they can be exchanged for daily necessities or used to offset the property fees of the community. It is time-consuming and laborious to classify garbage by the social capital of PPP project after centralized recycling, but it is easy for residents who form and put domestic garbage into it. Changsha Green Recycling Resources Co., Ltd. fully mobilized the enthusiasm of residents through the management innovation of the two-dimensional code community garbage recycling model, greatly reduced the cost of garbage sorting and greatly expanded its profit space.

5 PPP project profit model profit target stability

Earning profits is the main way for enterprises to increase their value. Therefore, whether they can obtain stable and sustained profits is an important decision-making basis for enterprises to invest. In view of this, not only should the social capital of PPP projects be made? Money can be earned, profitable? Ensuring the relative stability and sustainability of its profits and reducing the risk of social capital achieving profit targets in PPP projects is also one of its important profit model design ideas.

1. Bundle public products with different profit and loss situations to improve the sustainability of profit targets.

In the field of infrastructure and public utilities, there are both operating public projects with abundant cash inflows, non-operating public projects with insufficient cash inflows, and even non-operating public projects without any cash inflows. Operating public projects are very attractive to social capital. Is it possible to create social capital by adopting PPP model? Huge profits? Put the government in an awkward position; The quasi/non-operating public projects are not attractive to social capital. After adopting PPP mode, the government needs to provide appropriate financial subsidies or pay fees, which will bring certain financial pressure to the government. In order to attract social capital into a wider range of infrastructure and public utilities, while ensuring PPP projects? Profitable but not profiteering? Can you bundle projects with different profit and loss situations and implement PPP to achieve it? Apologize with abundance? It can be bundled with similar public products with different profit and loss situations, such as highway sections with different traffic flows; Projects with different profit and loss conditions can also be bundled in heterogeneous public products with specific connections, such as seawater desalination and power generation.

Representative projects, such as the circular economy PPP project of Tianjin SDIC Beijiang Power Plant, are jointly invested, constructed and operated by China Development and Investment Corporation, Tianjin Jinneng Investment Company and Tianjin Luchang Hangu Salt Field Co., Ltd. according to the ratio of 64: 34: 2. Power generation projects, seawater desalination, salt production from concentrated seawater, heat supply, land consolidation, and waste utilization? It consists of six sub-projects and provides many important products, such as electricity, heat, fresh water, land, salt products and building materials. Among them, seawater desalination project is the key link of circular economy, which has been in a state of loss due to the constraints of production cost and water supply system. This project is a combination of a seawater desalination project with poor profitability and a power generation project with good profitability. Use electricity to lift water? In policy, the profit of power generation project makes up for the loss of seawater desalination project; In view of the overall profit of the circular economy PPP project of Tianjin SDIC Beijiang Power Plant, two 654.38+0 MW generating units and a 300,000-ton/day seawater desalination device planned for the second phase of the project were approved by the National Development and Reform Commission on February 24, 2004.

2. Set the guaranteed amount reasonably in the early stage of operation to improve the stability of the profit target.

Due to the long-term nature of PPP contract, the uncertainty of cost and demand has become its distinctive feature. In order to ensure the stability of the profit target of social capital, public and private parties usually set the minimum demand guarantee (MDG) or minimum income guarantee (MRG), which is the so-called guaranteed amount in the practice of PPP in China. In essence, it is the risk sharing strategy of public and private parties or the risk mitigation mechanism of social capital. Due to China's rapid economic and social development and imperfect PPP market, it is common to set the guaranteed amount at the initial stage of operation in PPP projects with flow characteristics such as sewage treatment, garbage disposal, tunnels and bridges, and projects with immature markets such as charging new energy vehicles. The following are specific practices in sewage treatment and garbage disposal.

① Sewage treatment PPP projects usually set the guaranteed water quantity step by step according to a certain proportion of the designed treatment scale 3-5 years before the operation period, and take the designed scale as the guaranteed water quantity during the remaining franchise period. According to the practice of monthly payment, if the actual treatment capacity of the month does not reach the guaranteed amount, the sewage treatment service fee will still be paid according to the guaranteed amount (excluding special circumstances such as suspension and fines), so that investors can obtain predictable and stable cash flow protection; The successful operation in this field is TOT project of Hefei Wang Xiaoying Sewage Treatment Plant.

(2) It is slightly different from sewage treatment. The setting of the guaranteed amount of garbage disposal project needs to comprehensively consider the actual garbage supply and expected growth rate, the design treatment scale, the moisture content of garbage and the actual load capacity of garbage disposal equipment. If it is a waste incineration power generation project, the incineration rate should also be considered; In addition, since the garbage supply in a year will fluctuate greatly due to seasonal changes, the garbage supply guarantee amount is not implemented on a monthly basis, but on an annual basis, that is, the annual cumulative actual garbage disposal amount is calculated every full year from the payment start date. If the cumulative amount is lower than the annual garbage guarantee amount, the garbage disposal fee payable for the whole year shall be calculated according to the annual garbage guarantee amount (excluding special circumstances such as suspension and fines); Successful operation in this field, such as Rongcheng garbage incineration power generation BOT project.

6 conclusion

Relevant data show that adopting PPP does not necessarily make the government? Save money? Judging whether a public project adopts PPP internationally usually depends on whether the increased cost compared with the traditional model is related to the improvement of the supply efficiency of public products or the quality of public services. Value for money? (Value for money, VFM). Therefore, it is different from the general project between the parties to a contract. Is it possible for public and private parties of zero-sum game PPP project to pursue more value-added projects? * * * win? Yes

In view of this, the two sides should abandon the traditional confrontational thinking, which requires both sides to design and innovate the profit model with a positive attitude: the public sector should learn from the experience of successful cases at home and abroad, actively choose a legal and suitable profit model for PPP projects, or objectively treat the profit model scheme proposed by social capital; Social capital, on the other hand, should give full play to its professional and competitive advantages, provide a feasible profit model scheme to the public sector in the transaction stage, and optimize the project cost through technical or management innovation during the construction or operation period.

In addition, the profit model is the logic and method to obtain profits. With the introduction of value theory, its research focus has gradually shifted from paying attention to enterprise profits to paying attention to user value, thus putting forward the concept of business model. This paper holds that a project is a one-time task with a specific goal, and it is also a means or way to organize resource allocation, create value and finally achieve its own strategic goals. Therefore, in the future, the social capital of PPP projects should start from the public value proposition and focus on public demand for value creation and value transfer, so as to achieve public value and obtain enterprise value at the same time.

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