Authorities, business to promote public-private partnership projects in the areas of basic infrastructure and transport: PPPAméricas conference

The conference will be broadcast live from Guanajuato, Mexico

GUANAJUATO, Mexico – With more than 350 participants from 25 countries, the PPPAmericas conference entitled "Lessons Learned for Successful Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)," opened yesterday in Guanajuato, Mexico.

The event was organized by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), member of IDB Group, and the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) of Mexico. It was inaugurated by Steven J. Puig, vice president of the IDB's Private Sector; Vladimir Ramírez Soberanis, Head of the Investment Unit of the Ministry of Finance; and the Governor of the State of Guanajuato, Juan Manuel Oliva Ramírez.

"To build infrastructure and public services that work and benefit the whole population, the government and the private sector must work together," said Puig, who chaired the opening plenary session. "A better regulatory environment and transparent processes to implement public-private partnerships (PPP) can generate new business opportunities for companies."

"The development of the infrastructure of our countries is essential to the future of Latin America and the Caribbean. To close the competitiveness gap in infrastructure between our region and Asia, at least 9 percent of GDP should be invested until 2020,” Puig added.

The PPP has strong potential for sustainable development and the achievement of greater economic opportunities in the region, especially at the subnational level. It is essential to establish a positive environment through the development of laws and regulations to bolster collaboration between public and private sectors, thus helping governments to develop and implement PPP.

Since 2006, through grants of $12 million, the MIF has helped train more than 2,200 public and private sector professionals, driven more than $600 million in PPP projects investment, and assisted in the identification of more than 80 potential PPP projects. Ramírez Soberanis said that Mexico has a stable macroeconomic and financial market development necessary to continue to drive its aggressive infrastructure agenda. He added that funding for new projects is guaranteed through the National Bank of Public Works and the National Infrastructure Fund, and the proposed changes to legal and institutional framework will accelerate the bidding process and give greater certainty to private investors.

Ramírez Soberanis argued that the current Mexican administration has given an unprecedented boost to investment in infrastructure: average investment in 2007–2012 is expected to reach 4.5 percent of the gross domestic product, 1 percentage point more than the average observed in the previous administration.

PPPAméricas is the largest conference in the region on public-private participation. Over the next two days discussions will cover experiences in the implementation of PPP projects and subnational level, risk management, alternatives to achieve greater return on investment and the establishment of schemes for public-private participation in urban transport sectors, waste management, and construction and hospital service.

Successful projects in countries like Mexico, Brazil and Chile will serve as models that can be taken to scale in the region.The conference will conclude with a visit to the Highly Specialized Regional Hospital of Bajío in León, Guanajuato, which was developed under the PPP scheme.