Risk Manageability for Sustainable Public–Private Partnerships Development: Evidence From 25 International Projects

ABSTRACT Many Public–Private Partnership (PPP) projects fail in early development because risks are often assessed as static constraints rather than conditions that can be actively reduced through stakeholder action. This study introduces risk manageability as the capacity of stakeholders to actively shape and reduce risk exposure between the Project Selection Phase and the Bid and Proposal Phase. Drawing on 25 international PPP projects, we evaluate 27 risk factors across consortium, financial, construction, and country‐level domains. Successful projects are distinguished not by lower initial risk exposure, but by greater risk reduction during development, particularly in consortium, financial, and construction risks. By contrast, country‐level risks remain largely resistant to project‐level shaping. These findings extend project shaping theory by clarifying the boundary between manageable internal risks and structurally constrained external risks. Practically, the framework helps governments and investors prioritize projects with high shaping potential, reduce early‐stage attrition, and support sustainable infrastructure development.