UNECE experts praise Belarusian pilot PPP projects

MINSK (BelTA) – Experts of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) praised Belarusian pilot public-private partnership (PPP) projects, Chairman of the PPP Business Advisory Board of the UNECE James Stewart told media ahead of the meeting of the Interagency Infrastructure Coordination Council on 25 September, BelTA informs.

“Our experts assessed the projects Belarus presented and all of them were highly praised. We will do our best to compile a program for their implementation,” stressed James Stewart.

Chief of the PPP program at the UNECE Geoffrey Hamilton noted that over the past two years Belarus has made great headway in public-private partnership development. “I believe that if you continue working in this direction, you may become a PPP leader in the East-European region,” he said.

According to James Stewart, one of Belarus' best achievements in the PPP area so far has been the drafting of the law on public-private partnership which will allow the implementation of infrastructure projects.

Among seven pilot projects is the reconstruction of the highway M10 (the border of the Russian Federation (Selishche)-Gomel-Kobrin, 109.9-184.5km). Public-private partnership will be used to construct the Beshenkovichi hydro-electric power station (33MW-130kW/h) on the Western Dvina, Vitebsk Oblast and reconstruct the block of buildings of Grodno Hospital No.3 into the Grodno Oblast Cancer Detection Center. Among the plans is also the construction of a waste incinerator with the heating power of up to 1.2MW and the electric capacity of up to 1.0MW in Bobruisk; a 41.35km through street in Gomel taking into account the construction of a bridge over the Sozh River and five viaducts; preschool facilities in Minsk Oblast; the first stage of the historical and cultural complex Brest near the Brest Fortress.

Founded in May 2014, the Interagency Infrastructure Coordination Council develops proposals for creating legal, economic and information conditions to attract private capital, including the foreign one, to the implementation of infrastructure development projects based on the public-private partnership principles.

The Interagency Infrastructure Coordination Council is a collective unit that considers issues of infrastructure planning in the long term (10-15 years).