I was delighted to attend the 7th PPPAMÉRICAS event in Santiago de Chile last week. Organized by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), this successful event attracts around 400 Public-Private Partnership (PPP) delegates every year. Attendees come together to discuss and share views relating to present and future PPP developments in Latin America and the Caribbean.
There were, as usual, a significant number of representatives from Multilateral Development Banks, including IDB and the World Bank Group (WBG), as well as from most governments in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region.
Hot topics, such as smart and sustainable cities, climate change and social impact bonds were discussed. Chilean government representatives explained the basic features of their PPP model and highlighted successful achievements made over the last 20 years. In addition, some recurring themes were discussed in depth, such as financing mechanisms. Chilean representatives shared news of their infrastructure fund which will be built on the basis of residual values of toll road concession contracts.
The panel discussion on initiatives and facilities to support and boost the proper preparation of PPP projects was of particular interest. Representatives of the Global Infrastructure Hub (GIH) and Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) explained how their facilities/institutions may support proper analysis, preparation and structuring of reliable PPP projects, amongst other experts and initiatives.
However, as everyone recognised, it is not only the planning and organization of the projects that is key – but also the specialized knowledge of PPP professionals responsible for designing the frameworks and delivering these programs. The session chaired by Clive Harris (WBG) and Dennis Blumenfeld (IDB) highlighted the need for common knowledge and best practice dissemination amongst PPP professionals. Clive and Dennis announced the launch of the APMG PPP Certification Program in this session.
The Program was received with great interest and we anticipate that at the next PPPAMÉRICAS event (being held in Costa Rica in 2017) we will not only come across PPP professionals and PPP officers - but also a good number of Certified PPP Professionals!
Andrés has 18+ years of experience working in the field of PPP and Infrastructure finance and now acts as independent senior advisor to investors and governments. Previous positions of Andrés include Partner head of Infrastructure & PPPs at Deloitte (the past 6 years), founder partner of Adeinfra (PPP boutique acquired by Deloitte in 2008) and Director of PPP practice at PwC.
Andrés has lead more than 50 PPP and infrastructure advisory contracts, majority of them in transportation sector plus a relevant number of them in Social Infrastructure and water. This includes more than 40 PPPs structured for authority (acting as procurement advisor) or advised to bidder/investor in countries as US, México, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, Malaysia and Spain.
Some remarkable successful projects (already in operations) include
- i-595 and Miami Port Tunnel (Florida),
- Zaragoza and Tenerife LRTs (Spain),
- the HSR PPP program in Spain,
- Tapachula Ciudad Hidalgo road PPP (México).
Andrés has acted also as advisor of the design and creation of the Spanish public infrastructure fund managed by ICO and as senior advisor to the fund in its 4 first materialised transactions.
Director and main lecturer of several PPP courses and capacitation projects, Andrés is also main author of several publications and white books for WB, IDB and government of Spain and author of several articles in specialised press and general economic press.