The executive committee of the CIS hosted the sixth expert group meeting on the development of public-private partnership within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union.  Minsk business platform brought together members of the expert group, representatives of governments, international organizations, as well as transport companies of Belarus.

The meeting participants discussed the issues of PPP development in transport infrastructure, the approach and requirements for the preparation and implementation of project initiatives. Representatives of the Russian and Kazakh authorities & businesses shared with their Belarusian colleagues experience in implementing projects of public-private partnership in this area, as well as using specific examples considered the risks of commercial and financial closing of projects.

During the meeting, the experts stressed that PPP is not just involvement of private parties in the projects, but also the distribution of risk between the parties. The road area  requires serious natal costs, there must be support from the state for the system to improve the quality and further exploitation of projects.

"The mechanism of public-private partnership is quite an effective way to attract investment in infrastructure projects. Belarus has great prospects. In the last year the law “On public-private partnership” came into force. Under this law a number of by-law regulatory documents were prepared. Thus, the basic regulatory framework has been formed, it makes it possible today to implement these projects, " said Deputy Economy Minister Pavel Utyupin.
Reconstruction of the highway M10 is the first project that Belarus plans to implement on the PPP principles.

“This year we will begin the process of selecting a private partner. Taking into account the completion of all necessary procedures, we plan to start the reconstruction of the road in the second half of 2018 ,” said First Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Alexei Avramenko. “Thanks to the active work of EBRD in the preparation of our project , qualified consultants have been involved. The first stage of the dialogue with the PPP market participants has been successfully completed, during which a large number of major players have expressed a high interest in our project, as well as international financial institutions.

In the future, the M10 motorway is expected passage of one of the routes of the Silk Road with further integration into the European transport system.
“The development of international transport corridors gives additional impetus to industry and business activity, increases the mobility of labor and goods, brings a number of additional economic benefits in cooperation countries,”  assured Alexei Avramenko.

Public-private partnership is a model of cooperation between the state and business, which allows implementing important social projects through innovation, capital, and resources of the private business, without overloading the budget. In the most general form the PPP contract implies that the private partner builds and during a specified contract period (usually 10-20 years) serves the infrastructure projects, for which he receives fixed payment from the budget. Upon expiration of the contract the asset becomes the property of the state.