BNamericas – ProInversión eager to win over infrastructur…

Peru’s investment promotion agency ProInversión is sharpening its focus on public-private partnerships (PPPs), closely cooperating with ministries to speed up procedures and get the private sector involved.

“In sanitation we have more than 20 projects focused on closing gaps in the urban area, in health we have 10 projects, and in the educational area we have five school packages that we have been working on hand in hand with the education ministry,” executive director José Salardi told an event on strategic alliances in the social infrastructure sector.

The agency is on track to award projects worth a record US$9bn this year, up from a previous projection of US$8.09bn. Between January and August, it awarded works for a total of US$6.08bn.

“We have a gap of around 100 billion soles (US$26bn) in water and sanitation infrastructure by 2030, and annual public investment in the sector is only 6.5bn soles. We need to work with the private sector to support us in this process and allow us to make the water and sanitation services that are promoted sustainable,” he told the event hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank.

Salardi said that ProInversión is planning to award PPPs worth US$20bn by 2026 and leave a portfolio worth another US$20bn.

ProInversión and especially the housing, construction and sanitation ministry (MVCS) have collaborated closely to formulate and identify projects, especially in the potable water segment.

Water services deputy minister Christian Barrantes said at the event that greater participation from the private sector is required to close the gap, given that progress is insufficient.

The government is working on a law to mandate universal access to potable water through the promotion of measures like the reactivation of the Safe Water Investment Fund, which was created in 2016 and filled with up to 1.6bn soles. To reactivate the fund, the MVCS is coordinating with local and regional governments and service provider companies (EPS).

The awarding schedule for the rest of the year is as follows:

Source: ProInversión