PPPS SAVE BUDGET FUNDS

JELENA TADIĆ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PPP INVESTMENT PPPs SAVE BUDGET FUNDS

PPP Investment is a company that was founded with the aim of applying knowledge and experience from the public sector to the development of public-private partnership models, because many burning issues of citizens at the local level can be solved thanks to such partnerships

The advantage of public-private partnerships over the traditional procurement model is that initial reductions in the costs of construction or equipment with the traditional model can lead to higher costs in the usage phase, about which taxpayers have no information.

Is PPP Investment one of the pioneers in the line of work that you do?

Preparations for some of the first projects in the area of energy efficiency, which are still being implemented successfully today, were actually carried out by the PPP Investment team. We provide our clients with support during the entire process of selecting a private partner, i.e. up to the signing of a long-term public contract. We can today boast of a large number of projects prepared according to the public-private partnership model and satisfied clients, with whom cooperation is renewed from project to project.

Also testifying to our success is the fact that we are recognised by the Institute of European Regions (IRE), which is a very influential international organisation based in Salzburg and headed by professor Franz Schausberger, a former governor of the Salzburg Region and an advisor to EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn. This organisation brings together European regions, cities and municipalities, but also very influential companies like Palfinger, ERSTE Bank, Canon and others. They honour us in a special way by appointing little me to the Economic Board of this organisation, and we are proud to sit side-by-side with greats of world and European business.

Your work has a major impact on communities. What improves the quality of citizens’ lives?

Many of our small projects have solved numerous communal problems throughout Serbia. When I say “small projects” I’m referring to their financial value, but their economic value to the local population is incomparably higher. Here I’m primarily thinking of the dozens of public lighting projects, projects for the production of heating energy from renewable energy sources and natural gas, urban and suburban passenger transport and municipal waste management projects, the maintenance of streets and roads and many others. The implementation of these projects improves the quality of life of the local population, and all that without additional costs to the public body, with all the money invested exclusively by a private partner.

When it comes to public investments, taxpayers don’t only pay the price of construction or equipment, but rather such projects cost as much as they will pay for them in their entire lifetime.

Could you give us positive examples of public-private partnerships in practise?

The people of Pančevo today have the most modern passenger transport in the region. This is a project that makes PPP Investment particularly proud

One of the shining examples is improved urban and suburban passenger transport services in Pančevo. A serious problem that threatened to leave Pančevo residents without public transport was overcome through the hiring of a private partner, a consortium of domestic operators, which invested in 60 new ecological buses and is obliged to build a new bus station in the near future. The people of Pančevo today have the most modern passenger transport in the region. This is a project that makes PPP Investment particularly proud.

And in the coming period, given the immeasurable importance of energy efficiency, particularly for countries like Serbia, we would like to participate in preparations for an even larger number of projects aimed at improving energy efficiency, along with the ever increasing use of renewable energy sources.