BELGRADE, Serbia, Mar 30, 2007 (AP Online via COMTEX News Network) --

A Spanish-Austrian consortium signed a contract Friday [30 March 2007] with the Serbian government on completing and maintaining a 350-kilometer-(220-mile)-long highway through Serbia over the next 25 years.

Spain's Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas and Austria's Alpine-Mayreder are to invest euros 800 million (S$1.06 billion) to complete a partly constructed stretch and build the rest of the route connecting Serbia's northern border with Hungary with the southwestern town of Pozega, said Capital Investments Minister Velimir Ilic.

Under the deal, the foreign investors have until the end of 2012 to finish the highway and, in return, collect toll until the concession expires.

The FCC-Alpine Mayreder consortium previously won a government tender for the job, against rivals that included Austrian Strabag and France's Bouygues, as well as France's Vinci SA.

The contract includes completing the 106-kilometer-(66-mile)-long northern stretch from the northern border town of Horgos to the city of Novi Sad; maintaining the existing, 68-kilometer (mile) part between Novi Sad and Belgrade, and building the 148-kilometer (92-mile) stretch between Belgrade and Pozega.

Copyright (C) 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

On 12 March 2007 a conference on “Public Private Partnership in Croatia” under the organization of the Trade and Investment Promotion Agency and the patronage of the Government of the Republic of Croatia took place.

The conference was aimed mainly for the public sector representatives in order to promote and emphasize the government’s support of PPP project.

Damir Polančec, Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and President of the Steering Committee of the Trade and Investment Promotion Agency  in his opening speech pointed out as a main advantages of PPP projects the fact that the involvement of the private sector makes the projects more effective and quicker to realize.

To strengthen PPP initiatives in Croatia a Public Private Partnership Division within the Trade and Investment Agency was established. The division is led by Kamilo Vrana and its main goals include:

Source: European PPP Center

Since 2004 DG TREN operates an Informal PPP Exchange Group where officials of DG units, the EIB and PPP units meet.  Its last meeting was held on 14 March 2007 in Brussels which was aimed at promoting PPP in order to achieve a sustainable funding for the Trans-European Network.

The report including all presentations can be downloaded from the following link. Please note that the file will be kept live on the website only until the end of April.

We would also like to bring your attention to “TEN-T Days” event to be held on 10-11 May 2007 in Brussels where you get insights into new opportunities in the TEN-T Programme, as the new 2007-2013 scheme is launched. Attendance is free of charge, for more information click on this link.

Source: European PPP Center