Identifying significant risks and analyzing risk relationship for construction PPP projects in China using integrated FISM-MICMAC Approach

To meet the growing demand for public facilities and services, many developing countries, including China, have adopted the concept of public-private partnership (PPP). However, there are many risks in PPP projects. Furthermore, these risks affect each other, which may lead to project failure. However, the existing research on the PPP risk relationship has not gone into sufficient detail. Therefore, in order to fill this literature gap, this study proposes a procedural method to analyze the correlation between PPP risks. Firstly, this study, identifies the risks of construction PPP projects in China by combining the literature review with a case study and interviews. Then, fuzzy interpretative structural modeling (FISM) is used to reflect the relationships between these risks and reveal the failure mechanisms of PPP projects. In addition, based on matrix impact cross-reference multiplication applied to a classification (MICMAC) analysis, the risk is divided into four clusters, according to the driving and dependence power, to show the relationship level of the risk. Finally, the paper compares and discusses the research results with other studies and puts forward some suggestions on PPP risks. The FISM-MICMAC method adopted in this study considers the fuzzy of the PPP risk relationship and improves upon previous studies. In addition, the method of FISM-MICMAC can provide a new risk assessment tool for risk management strategies in the field of construction engineering and management.