This report was compiled at the request of the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management and the Ministry of Economic Affairs within the framework of the Research programme on the Economic effects of Infrastructure (OEEI). The most important aim of OEEI is to achieve greater uniformity in the economic assessment of infrastructural projects in order to provide project managers and project leaders with a better base from which to conduct such research. During the last few years, the situation surrounding the economic assessment of large infrastructural projects has been very loosely structured. This was one of the main reasons for setting up the Research Programme. Not only was the assessment characterised by diverse research methodologies, but many intense, and not always very lucid, discussions about the appropriateness and applicability of these methodologies arised. Within the Research Programme, however, consensus has been reached on a number of crucial points, for example, the importance of implementing cost-benefit analyses. The agreements reached within the ‘OEEI community’ have been set out in this guide. Although much has been achieved, there will obviously always be scope for further discussion. The guide concentrates on the economic assessment of infrastructural projects in the Netherlands, which means that it is not a general manual or reference work for cost-benefit analysis. Some topics are only mentioned in passing or are not discussed at all, while other topics, in particular those which are specifically relevant to infrastructural projects or which focus on the Netherlands in particular, are discussed in great detail. This study is specifically aimed at transport infrastructure in the form of rail connections and (transport) hubs. (Author/publisher)
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