Project Management for Construction Chapter 6

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Project Management for Construction Chapter 66. Economic Evaluation of Facility Investments6.1 Project Life Cycle and Economic FeasibilityFacility investment decisions represent major commitments of corporate resources and have seriousconsequences on the profitability and financial stability of a corporation. In the public sector, suchdecisions also affect the viability of facility investment programs and the credibility of the agency incharge of the programs. It is important to evaluate facilities rationally with regard to both theeconomic feasibility of individual projects and the relative net benefits of alternative and mutuallyexclusive projects.This chapter will present an overview of the decision process for economic evaluation of facilities withregard to the project life cycle. The cycle begins with the initial conception of the project andcontinues though planning, design, procurement, construction, start-up, operation and maintenance. Itends with the disposal of a facility when it is no longer productive or useful. Four major aspects ofeconomic evaluation will be examined: 1. The basic concepts of facility investment evaluation, including time preference for consumption, opportunity cost, minimum attractive rate of return, cash flows over the planning horizon and profit measures. 2. Methods of economic evaluation, including the net present value method, the equivalent uniform annual value method, the benefit-cost ratio method, and the internal rate of return method. 3. Factors affecting cash flows, including depreciation and tax effects, price level changes, and treatment of risk and uncertainty. 4. Effects of different methods of financing on the selection of projects, including types of financing and risk, public policies on regulation and subsidies, the effects of project financial planning, and the interaction between operational and financial planning.In setting out the engineering economic analysis methods for facility investments, it is important toemphasize that not all facility impacts can be easily estimated in dollar amounts. For example, firmsmay choose to minimize environmental impacts of construction or facilities in pursuit of a triplebottom line: economic, environmental and social. By reducing environmental impacts, the firm mayreap benefits from an improved reputation and a more satisfied workforce. Nevertheless, a rigorouseconomic evaluation can aid in making decisions for both quantifiable and qualitative facility impacts.It is important to distinguish between the economic evaluation of alternative physical facilities and theevaluation of alternative financing plans for a project. The former refers to the evaluation of the cashflow representing the benefits and costs associated with the acquisition and operation of the facility,and this cash flow over the planning horizon is referred to as the economic cash flow or the operatingcash flow. The latter refers to the evaluation of the cash flow representing the incomes andexpenditures as a result of adopting a specific financing plan for funding the project, and this cashflow over the planning horizon is referred to as the financial cash flow. In general, economicevaluation and financial evaluation are carried out by different groups in an organization sinceeconomic evaluation is related to design, construction, operations and maintenance of the facility 176while financial evaluations require knowledge of financial assets such as equities, bonds, notes andmortgages. The separation of economic evaluation and financial evaluation does not necessarily meanone should ignore the interaction of different designs and financing requirements over time which mayinfluence the relative desirability of specific design/financing combinations. All such combinationscan be duly considered. In practice, however, the division of labor among two groups of specialistsgenerally leads to sequential decisions without adequate communication for analyzing the interactionof various design/financing combinations because of the timing of separate analyses.As long as the significance of the interaction of design/financing combinations is understood, it isconvenient first to consider the economic evaluation and financial evaluation separately, and thencombine the results of both evaluations to reach a final conclusion. Consequently, this chapter isdevoted primarily to the economic evaluation of alternative physical facilities while the effects of avariety of financing mechanisms will be treated in the next chapter. Since the methods of analyzingeconomic cash flows are equally applicable to the analysis of financial cash flows, the techniques forevaluating financing plans and the combined effects of economic and financial cas ...