The course aims to provide students with theoretical frameworks and tools to structuring, evaluating, financing, and managing infrastructure investments with particular reference to the Transport sector. The course will provide the students the necessary knowledge in the fields of infrastructure investment and funding sources to critically assess the economic and financial feasibility and profitability of infrastructure projects, taking into account also environmental and social impacts associated with the analysed investments. The course will present alternative solutions for infrastructure projects financing and risk management, discussing advantages and disadvantages related to different financial structures and approaches. Finally, financial modelling theoretical concepts and practical applications will allow students to understand how to compare different financing alternatives. 

In terms of acquired knowledge and understanding, students will be able to:

• Identify how public sources, debt, equity, and hybrid instruments can be combined to sustain infrastructure projects;
• Describe the relationships between sound theoretical references in corporate and project finance and the concrete funding of infrastructure projects;
• Examine different types/sources of risks at different stages of project development;
• Define the main contractual arrangements in infrastructure development projects: infrastructure financing as a network of contracts;
• Identify a representative set of KPIs to assess the financial and economic feasibility of infrastructure projects;
• Understand the main concepts of project management (scope, time and cost management);
• Show references to, and analysis of, concrete case studies in the financing of infrastructures.

Students will be able to:  

• Apply the theoretical knowledge to practical analysis of simple infrastructure projects;
• Calculate economic and financial indicators for the evaluation of infrastructure project performances;
• Compare alternative financial solutions for infrastructure projects based on the usage of different financial instruments and approaches;
• Illustrate the allocation of risks in infrastructures projects comparing advantages and disadvantages of alternative contractual arrangements and instruments;
• Examine project performances in terms of scope, time and cost management;
• Examine economic and financial plan models.

The course contents are delivered through lectures and exercises sessions. The course covers the following topics:

Module I

- Elements of financial statement analysis;

- Project management environment and lifecycle, scope & time management;

- Budget definition and project monitoring and control;

- Elements of Cost-Benefit analysis.

Module II

- Project finance vs corporate finance;

- Public private partnership and concession contracts;

- Fundamentals of financial calculus;

- Financial modelling of infrastructure projects;

- Elements of risk assessment and management.

• SDG9 - INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

No pre-requisites are required

Students will pass the course after successfully take a written exam. The exam consists in a set of exercises and theoretical questions. 

The exam aims at verifying student's:

- understanding of the theoretical frameworks to finance and manage infrastructure projects;

- ability to define and evaluate project performances;

- ability to define, evaluate and compare different financial solutions for infrastructure investments;

The exam of the course corresponding to 10 cfu refers to topics of Modules I and II. The exam of the course corresponding to 5 CFU refers to topics of Module II. 

To pass the course, students must successfully pass the written exam with a grade higher or equal to 18.