Report on construction of R35 was discussed by the government yesterday

26. 1. 2010

Report on construction of expressway R35 was discussed by the government yesterday. The government discusses preparation and construction work on this project every 6 months. Building of a parallel road with higher capacity now depends on decision of two regional governments. Liberec municipal council plans to reach a decision concerning the road near Cesky raj in February. The second decision will take place this spring in Pardubice region. Among the considered solutions is also a PPP project.

Slovak government passed concession contract for the so-called 3rd package of concession project

22. 1. 2010

Slovak government passed at its session from January 21st, 2010, signing of the concession contract and appendix to the concession contract on design, building, financing, operation and maintenance of selected parts of D1 highway. Total value of the project (total of accessibility payments) is 3.654 bln. € in the net current value (app 95 bln. CZK) and investment value of the project is approximately 2 bln. € VAT not included (app 52 bln. CZK). Concession contract is included as an attachment no. 4 of the file inserted.

More controversial public procurement = another argument supporting PPP

21. 1. 2010

According to the daily E15, there are 2 giant contracts worth hundreds of millions of crowns announced by the Czech highway authority Ředitelství silnic a dálnic (ŘSD). These contracts have been announced with limited competition, which also means limited possibility of lowering high price of these contracts.

"Firm" Prague – money, that´s what it´s all about. Where is the catch that prevents the use of PPP model?

20. 1. 2010

Daily Hospodářské noviny from this Monday published enlightening article on how rich client the city of Prague is. It organises public procurement projects every year from its CZK 50 billion budget. These projects often lack transparency. Not only because of that (or maybe that is why) Prague attracts attention of the whole country, because pretty much every contract worth several hundred million crowns is considered to be controversial and presents an interesting topic for journalists. Opencard, tunnel Blanka, building the subway, sewerage plant, underground parking, reconstruction of infrastructure or buildings … PPP model could have been used in at least 5 of these 7 projects, but why it wasn´t? Where is the catch?

Fischer´s legacy to his successors – with comments of the PPP Association

19. 1. 2010

Yesterday I read about the plans of the interim government on recommendations that would lead the country out of the crisis. It is no surprise to me, even though it might be for others, that the “cookbook” not only directly mentions the co-operation between private and public sector (PPP), but PPP also “lurks” behind many other proposals. In addition to that many other proposals are positive not only for PPP, but also for economy in general. The following text is based on an article from server iDNES and comments of the PPP Association are highlighted in bold.

High Speed Link Montpellier - Perpignan

18. 1. 2010

French rail authority RFF has completed a public consultation period on the Montpellier-Perpignan high speed rail link and will report its findings to the government in the first quarter of this year. A source close to the authority said the project may be procured on a PPP basis.

Study of Transparency International on PPP

15. 1. 2010

I have read the press release and a study of the Transparency International (TI) on pilot PPP projects in the Czech Republic. Criticism is in general one of the best feedbacks for our activities, so it is not surprising that this document also includes some interesting ideas and remarks. At the same time I also have to wonder a bit.

There will be no charges imposed in case of the overpriced court house in Brno. PPP public is dumbfounded

13. 1. 2010

There will be no charges imposed in connection with overpriced court house in Brno. Supervising public prosecutor reviewed and confirmed previous ruling of the anti-corruption police. Anti-corruption police came to a conclusion that suspicions of offence being committed were not well founded in this case.

EIB and EBRD will co-finance PPP Motorway A1 in Poland

10. 1. 2010

The European Investment Bank has pre-approved funding of up to 50%, or just over €1bn, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has pre-approved a loan of up to €200m for the same project.

When will the ministers deciding on PPP project become qualified?

8. 1. 2010

Near impossible are the attempts of the current Minister of Transport Gustav Slamecka, who ordered his subordinates after years of empty talk to start looking for a solution to the fastest possible building of highway D3. Colleague of Mr. Slamecka, Interior Minister Martin Pecina, probably considers the modern highway connection with Prague and respectively with Austrian and European highway networks to be a useless luxury.

Rokycany is looking for a new company responsible for management of municipal water supply and sewage

4. 1. 2010

Rokycany is looking for a new company responsible for long-term management of municipal water supply and sewage systems. Contract of the current operator, Sokolov based company VOSS, ended after 15 years on December 31st, 2009. The City Hall decided to prolong the contract until new operator is found, which means approximately 1 year, deputy mayor Jaroslav Mraz told CTK.

Private capital? Be careful, please

4. 1. 2010

In my article published in daily HN (December 16th, 2009) as a part of the contemplation on the critical condition of Czech public finances and the possibility of lowering rating, I proposed PPP projects as a part of the solution. In case of PPP, public and private sectors co-operate on realisation of investment projects. Tomáš Otáhal mentions in his reaction (HN, December 31st, 2009) the critical aspects of PPP and says that we should adopt more careful approach and claims that privatisation is a better solution. We can agree with number of general arguments on why the market solution is usually considered to be the most efficient and we can add also other objections against PPP – as high costs related to preparation of the project.

PF 2010

23. 12. 2009

PPP Association thanks for your goodwill during 2009. We wish you Merry Christmas and successful, happy new year 2010. We look forward to working together over the next year!

PPP Association

The government lowered limits for over the limit public procurement projects

22. 12. 2009

The government passed material of the Ministry for Regional Development, which slightly lowers the minimum levels of expected over the limit public procurement and over the limit concession contracts in the public procurement bill. This change is valid since January 1st, 2010.

Concession proceedings for project of the parking house Rychtářka in year 2009

21. 12. 2009

The city of Plzeň is expected to announce tender for contactor responsible for building parking house Na Rychtářce by the end of this year. This will be over-limit public procurement in the estimated total value of CZK 342 million. Offers will be collected for approximately 2 months and then evaluated. The key criteria for selecting the winner will be the price offered by the investor to the city. Member of the city council Petr Rund confirmed that Plzen representatives could vote on the winner of the tender as soon as in March.

EBRD to provide € 250m for Slovakia Second D1

18. 12. 2009

The EBRD is considering providing a loan of up to €250m to Slovenské diaľnice as to finance construction of the €3.6bn D1/Phase I Motorway in Slovakia. Slovenské diaľnice as is a special purpose company created by the consortium led by Bouygues Travaux Publics SA, DTP Terrassement SA, Colas SA, Mota Engil SGPS SA, Intertoll-EuropeZrt Doprastav a.s., Vahostav-SK as and Meridiam Infrastructure Finance SARL.

The European Commission with a pressure on development of PPP projects

17. 12. 2009

The European Union and its member countries are trying to cope with the financial and economic crisis by realising ambitious recovery plans with the aim to stabilise financial industry and to limit influence of economic downfall on the people and the real economy. PPP can, in the context of recovery activities, help in providing efficient ways for realisation of infrastructure projects, as well as in providing public services and innovations. PPP is an interesting tool for long-term structural development of infrastructure and services, when building on advantages of private and public sectors. Please, find more detailed information in the file attached.

Building of the court house in Ústí nad Labem at the end of the year 2010

15. 12. 2009

Building of the court house in Ústí nad Labem will be probably launched at the end of next year. Project of building the court house will cost approximately CZK 1 billion. The lot of land in Bukov is owned by the court, but there is lack of finances needed to build the court house. Proposal of the project will be evaluated now in the context of the current financial crisis and the tender for contractor of the project will be announced later on. It will be realised in a form of a PPP project.

Why is Minister talking about something he has absolutely no information about?

15. 12. 2009

On December 7th, 2009, the daily E15 published an interview with Finance Minister Eduard Janota. "I do not want to prepare two budgets – for the left and for the right wing". No matter how much I agree with Minister Janota on how important it is to lower the deficit of our country, I still have to wonder about how he speaks about PPP projects at the end of the interview. Of course, everyone has the right for his or her own opinion. On the other hand, I would expect from a responsible official at least to study the basics of the topics he wants to provide “detailed” information on prior to speaking about these topics in public. As a result I have decided to send my reaction to the interview to the daily E15. Please, find the whole reaction is attached.

Parking in Ostrava Poruba in a form of PPP

14. 12. 2009

Poruba would need at least CZK 1.5 billion and an area of 33 football fields to satisfy the parking needs of all the drivers. This is result of an expert study ordered by this district and realised by VSB – Technical University of Ostrava. One of the solutions is co-operation with the private sector called PPP.

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