Private Investment in Infrastructure Conference

The current debate about infrastructure revolves around how to mobilise more private investment to help build new or renew existing assets. Reducing uncertainty for investors is seen as one way to encourage more private infrastructure financing. However, uncertainty about risk affects every party in infrastructure procurement and management - especially suppliers, who deliver most of the value. Would Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), and infrastructure contracts in general, perform better if the public sector creates more information about risk - and makes this information available to bidders? Are there better approaches than PPPs to deal with uncertainty over the long run? The conference presented the findings of a new report, “Private Investment in Transport Infrastructure: Dealing with Uncertainty in Contracts”, and discussed these with academics, practitioners and policy makers from around the world. The report is the main output of an ITF Working Group of more than 20 experts from different disciplines related to infrastructure investment, procurement, civil engineering, and economic regulation. 

Go to report "Private Investment in Transport Infrastructure: Dealing with Uncertainty in Contracts"

Go to Conference videos and reports

Meeting Agenda  

09:20–09:50 
Registration

09:50–10:00 
Welcome by ITF Secretary-General Young Tae Kim

10:00–10:30
Introduction: Why an ITF Working Group on Private Investment?
Dejan Makovšek (Economist, ITF - Procurement and Private Infrastructure Investment Lead)

Competition - the first precondition for successful procurement

10:30–10:45
PPPs and traditional procurement in Europe
Prof. Athena Roumboutsos (University of Aegean, Greece) 

10:45-11:15
Panel discussion followed by Q/A with audience

• The market concentration for PPPs and traditional procurement is high - a natural state of the market or a failure?
• Has the recent crisis reshuffled the market in any significant way?
• Why has there not been much policy discussion around competition and PPPs or major infrastructure procurement in general?

with Michael Burnett (European Institute for Public Administration (EIPA), Member of the European Commission Stakeholder Expert Group on Public Procurement), Guido Fara (Auditor, European Court of Audit), Kaj V. Holm (CEO and CFO, Øresundsbron S/A, Denmark), Michael Bennon (Managing Director/GPC, Stanford University, USA)

Information - the second precondition for successful procurement: Dealing with uncertainty suppliers face in the construction phase

11:15-11:30
Reducing the cost of major infrastructure procurement in publicly and privately financed projects
Prof. Aris Pantelias and Jonathan Kennedy (University College of London, Bartlett School for Built Environment, UK)

11:30–12:10
Panel discussion followed by Q/A with audience

• What affects contractors’ exposure to uncertainty?
• Can the public reduce the uncertainty for the contractor without changing the contract design?
• Can we reduce the risk pricing uncertainty without reducing room for innovation?
• How important is building in-house expert capacity to support procurement? 
• What are the roles of IPA and Sund&Belt partner?

with Matthew Vickerstaff (Deputy CEO, Infrastructure and Projects Authority, HM Treasury/Cabinet Office, UK), Kim S. Andersen (Deputy Technical Director, Femern S/A, Denmark), Roger Fizselson (Advisor to the Director General, Confederation of International Contractors' Associations), Julian Sindall (Founding Director, Cadenza Ltd, UK), Klaus Grewe (Principal, Klaus Grewe Programme Management, UK/Germany)

12:10-13:00
Lunch break

Addressing uncertainty in long-term contracts

13:00-13:15
Partial solutions for PPPs risks in network industries
Prof. Alexander Galetovic (University of the Andes, Chile)

13:15-13:45
Panel discussion followed by Q/A with audience

• Why do governments want to transfer demand risk and what should they know about it?
• When is it okay to renegotiate and why are there not more PPP arbiters?
• What do we do when the circumstances have shifted the bargaining power from one party to the other?
• How effective are buy-out/termination clauses?

with Steve Lomas (Director, Infrastructure and Projects Authority, HM Treasury/Cabinet Office, UK), Neil Valentine (Head of Urban Mobility Department, European Investment Bank), Arnaud Hary (President, Association des Societés Françaises d’Autoroutes, France)

The long-term strategic view: The regulated model for transport networks

13:45-14:05
Towards a RAB on a motorway network
Stephen Alchin (Executive Director, Infrastructure Australia)

14:05-14:50
Panel discussion followed by Q/A with audience

• What are the political considerations of creating a RAB on any level of a transport network (e.g. motorways)?
• How close could a RAB on a motorway network, for example, come to the utility regulation model?
• How attractive would such a model be for investors?
• Could RAB be applied to other infrastructure types?

with Dan Elliott (Director and Founder, Frontier Economics), Andrew J. Smith (ITS Leeds, UK), Mar Beltran (Executive Director, S&P Global Ratings), Karl Nietvelt (Head of Analytics and Research – Global Infrastructure Ratings, S&P Global Ratings), Florent del Picchia TBC (Fund Manager - Infrastructure & Renewable Energy, Aviva Investors),  Anne Yvrande-Billon (Vice-President, Autorité de régulation des activités ferroviaires et routières (ARAFER), France, Raffaele DELLA CROCE (Senior economist – Long Term Investment, DAF/OECD)

The way forward: Building a robust approach for procurement and private investment

14:50-15:15
Towards a Procurement Design Assessment System for public and private infrastructure investment
Dejan Makovšek (Economist, ITF) and Prof. Adrian Bridge (Queensland University of Technology, Australia)

15:15–15:30
Q&A with audience

15:30-15:50
Coming up next: The ITF Working Group on Strategic Infrastructure Planning
Jagoda Egeland (Economist, ITF)

c. 16:00
End of conference

Senior economist – Long Term Investment, DAF/OECD