Investment Risk Grade Evaluation of New Town Construction PPP Projects: Perspective from Private Sector

New Town construction is gaining popularity in China owing to the rapid development of urbanization. However, it is a long-term and systematic project with multiple risks, plagued by shortage of funds and narrow financing channels. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are considered an effective mode to solve the problem of insufficient government funds and experience, and are increasingly being applied to implement infrastructure projects worldwide. Although new town construction in PPPs can relieve the government's debt pressure, private sectors still lack confidence in this approach. Therefore, from the perspective of private sectors, this study identifies 23 investment risk indicators from six aspects through a comprehensive literature review, field research, and risk assessment meeting. These six investment risk aspects include policy and legal, market, financing and design, natural, construction, and standard and contract. Then, this paper uses the project grading tool to design and score problems for 23 evaluation indicators. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method is applied to determine the weight of each risk aspect. At the end, the mixed center-point triangular whitenization weight function is used to determine the investment risk evaluation grade. The results are expected to serve as a reference and provide inspiration for the private sectors of New Town construction in PPPs.