Commercialisation of Asset Management

Commercialisation may be defined as bringing road management into the marketplace, putting them on a fee-for service basis, and managing them like a business. The public works' administration ceases to undertake maintenance activities, but rather is responsible for setting technical standards, prioritising works, contracting for works, conducting audits to ensure that contractors perform according to contract terms and ensuring timely payment for works satisfactorily completed.

Read more in the gTKP Finance & Economics Topic Information Sheet on Commercialisation of Asset Management.

Key Documents:

Recommended Links:

  • World Bank and SSATP hold the most extensive knowledge base on road management)
  • Transport Research Board (TRB) of the National Academy of Sciences, USA,
  • Transport Research Information Services (TRIS) the online database is the most comprehensive source of information on published transport research on the Web.
  • The partnership between FHWA and AASHTO created the Office of Asset Management, which has produced numerous publications. The site includes a summary of existing and planned research activities organized by subject area. A review of Transport Asset Management in Australia, Canada, England, and New Zealand and the asset management primer are of particular interest. The Office's mission is to encourage states to move away from a purely engineering based system to more of an economic system, to think more like the private sector when managing their assets--that is to consider costs and benefits and management from a user perspective. This includes launching a new investment analysis tool known as the HERS/ST for Highway Economics' Requirements System-state version.
  • The UK's Transport Research LaboratorY (TRL) is a useful resource on asset management issues. Most reports can be purchased. Among interesting titles are:
  • Low Cost Roads Update (2002-2004). This issue of Current Topics includes over 60 abstracts of reports, conference papers, books and journal articles, including pavement management systems, including documents of TRL's Library Database and of the OECD's International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD) database.
  • Pavement Management Systems Update, 2006. This issue of Current Topics includes over 70 abstracts of reports, conference papers, books and journal articles. Numerous case studies demonstrate the implementation of PMS for highway networks in many parts of the world. Many of the items were selected from TRL and ITRD databases.