Multi-criteria decision analysis for infrastructure privatisation using conflict resolution

A decision support system (DSS) is introduced for evaluating and comparing a wide range of privatisation schemes for infrastructure facilities. The methodology identifies the preferences of the main stakeholders involved, along with all the environmental, political, technical and economic criteria that need to be considered in privatisation decisions. A DSS is then developed and tested on a case study involving the privatisation of a wastewater project. The system provides decision support through three steps: (1) screening of infeasible decisions using the elimination method of multiple criteria decision analysis; (2) determining the most stable decision by analysing the actions and counteractions of the stakeholders using conflict resolution and stability analysis; and (3) evaluating the robustness of decisions under varying levels of uncertainty using information gap theory. The DSS is useful for practitioners involved in infrastructure privatisation decisions for a variety of infrastructure systems such as transportation, water and energy.