General proceedings - Association mondiale de la Route

3.4. Day 4, Thursday 19 th April 2007
Session Chair:
Cameroon
Mr. Samuel Nengue (pictured), Director General, Road Fund
Session 8:
Road Investment Planning and its Management (continued)
Title: Public - Private Partnership as a Viable Alternative of Road Financing under
Public Budgetary Constraints
Author & Presenter: Massimo Marconi (pictured), Head of Design Department, Stretto
di Messina S.P.A, Italy.
The presentation was based on Italy’s experience on
Public Private Partnerships (PPP). In recent years, Italy
has experienced budget constraints in meeting demand
for infrastructure due to increased traffic levels. To
solve the problem of financial constraints, they resorted
to attracting private investments through Public Private
Partnerships. To attract the private sector,
improvements have been made to the regulatory
framework in which a number of models have been
established that balance the risks between the public and private sectors during the
construction and operational stages. The presenter gave the example of a PPP that is being
used to construct the Strait of Messina bridge which has a suspension length of 3,666 metres
and its estimated cost of Euro 6 billion.
Highlights of the presentation:
• PPPs have been encouraged by the adoption of suitable privatisation policies and
legislation. In Italy, the percentage of value of PPPs as compared to total investments in
public works has increased from 17% in 2003 to 30% in 2006.
• Risks need to be assessed and balanced between the key stakeholders involved in a
project.
• Investors are assured of amortisation of up to 50% in case of a worse scenario such as
political risks that could end the project.
37