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The government of Slovenia, through the Infrastructure Ministry, has announced it will take more time to select a PPP model for the Koper - Diva?a rail link upgrade project.
According to the Infrastructure Ministry, the PPP Model Shortlist is scheduled to be ready in September. The final PPP model would be selected by the end of the year. Once a PPP model is selected, the government will launch a tender process to select a private partner. Construction work is expected to start by 2016.
The decision was made following the news that the project has not been approved for EU funds from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). According to the Minister of Infrastructure, Peter Gaspersic, the project has not been selected due to the fact that the government has not yet managed to find a private partner to provide sufficient financial resources.
Slovenia has hired the OECD, which will receive a payment of €160,000, to draw a list of possible PPP models that will include financial, technical, social and economic aspects of each model and possible risks associates.
The project involves the upgrade of the Diva?a-Koper rail link, which at the moment is a 50-kilometre single track line that connects Ljubljana and Diva?a to the coastal town of Koper.
The total project investment is estimated at €1.4 billion (US$1.54 billion).
The project is a key piece of infrastructure for the Port of Koper, which will hit its limit within a few years if the track, currently the biggest bottleneck on the rail network, is not upgraded. Transport of merchandise through the port of Koper increased by 42.5% between 2004 and 2013.
We have recently reported about several rail PPP projects globally: