Public Private Partnerships in Transport: Trends & Theory
P3T3 2013 Discussion Papers
Part I Country Profiles - Portugal
Rosário Macário, Rui Couchinho, Joana Ribeiro
Instituto Superior Técnico, Technical University of Lisbon
Abstract
Portugal has been one of the most active European countries in the PPP market in the last decades. Regardless of public debate and some criticism of major infrastructure projects, several Governments since 2003 demonstrated their commitment to PPPs by launching tender procedures for some of the major transport projects, as well as by implementing legislative and institutional reforms to improve the execution of PPP projects, namely the new Procurement Legislation and the creation of executive agencies to monitor and control business-State participation. As the current financial crisis has become more severe, the Government has begun to renegotiate its shadow toll concessions, including the conversion of some of them into toll
roads. Other potential PPP projects such as the new Lisbon Airport and a high speed rail link between Lisbon and Porto have now been put on hold.
5 Conclusion (pg 159)
In Portugal, the engagement of private
partners in transport infrastructure delivery was initiated in the early 1990s
in the railways sector, using concession contracts. This situation was
maintained until 2003, when the first PPP-specific legislation was adopted (DL nº
86/2003).
Many
contracts came a long time before the publication of the Decree-Law nº 86/2003
of April 26th, which established the characteristics and rules to be complied
with the launch of PPP in Portugal. Considering the issues raised about the
allocation of risks between the parties, which is one of the striking features
of PPPs, the Government approved the updated version of Decree-Law nº 86/2003,
which is the Decree-Law nº 141/2006 of July 27th. Apart from these two decree
laws, which are transversal to all sectors, there is a specific legislation
that is designed to complement the individual circumstance of specific sectors
such as environment, health or transport.
Portugal
has been one of the most active European countries in the PPP market in the
last decades. The share of the cumulative investment in transport PPPs is
fairly high, accounting to 98% of the total cumulative investment in 2010 which
represent 16 billion euro.
When the
financial crisis came, the transport sector was affected and projects like High
Speed Rail, the New Lisbon Airport and some new highways are now at a
standstill. Projects which were already contracted have been subject to
renegotiation.
Despite the
serious conclusions taken by the audits of the Court of Accounts regarding
deviations in time and money of the projects under PPP contracts, we can
conclude that the problem lies not in the PPP instrument itself but in the
misleading ways it has been implemented.
Here, we mention some of the pitfalls
that have been identified in Portuguese cases:
- Biases in
planning and forecasting hindering quality of decision at project selection
stage. Competition between projects creates an incentive to project promoters
to emphasize benefits and de- emphasize costs and risks. This consubstantiates
what the literature of several cases worldwide reports as “optimist bias”;
- Biases
towards developing new project instead of making a more efficient and flexible
use from the existing ones, leading to maintain existing infrastructures in
poor condition and instead applying funds to new infrastructures;
- Weak
regulation, lack of performance pressure, inadequate contractual provisions;
- Biased
decision-making whenever projects are assessed in isolation. A systemic view is
required, projects must be assessed within portfolios and programs;
- Lack of
robust instruments for decision making, such as national infrastructure
accounts (balance sheets);
- Lack of
reliable instrument for ex-ante assessments of the project costs (i.e. PSC); Non-efficient delivery and delays can surmount
up to 30% additional costs, when studies point to possible savings of 20% from
efficient delivery.
Source: http://www.ppptransport.eu/docs/Book_part_1.pdf
Este Seminário terá como principal objetivo dar a conhecer não só as oportunidades de negócio junto das Nações Unidas, como apresentar as atividades da Divisão de Procurement das Nações Unidas, permitindo assim potenciar as oportunidades de negócio nesta área, nomeadamente através do registo das empresas, como empresas fornecedoras de bens e serviços para as Nações Unidas no UNGM (United Nations Global Market Place), base de dados das Nações Unidas. 
