Construction BUSINESS

Approval of a tender for a high-speed rail project for Portugal is a key decision for the European infrastructure investment and delivery sector, writes David Keniry.

The approval by the Portuguese parliament to tender a public-private partnership (PPP) contract next week for the project between Porto and Lisbon could be a benchmark for the development of infrastructure in the EU and a pipeline that the infrastructure sector can invest in.

Despite a backdrop of looming elections and domestic political issues represents a realpolitik decision that was made to give the procurement authority, Infraestruturas de Portugal, and Portuguese authorities the best chance of receiving EU funding from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), ahead of a January 30th deadline.

The use of PPP in Portugal, a mature PPP market, to deliver the Porto-Lisbon High-Speed Rail Project also represents realpolitik and a significant development for the PPP market in the EU.

With the looming deadlines for CEF and other EU funding streams, crucial decisions on where transport infrastructure will be built in the EU will be made in the coming weeks.

Understanding how PPPs can help the delivery of a Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) fit for the EU, in addition to investments required across Europe in security, housing, social infrastructure, climate adaption, and energy security could be a key factor in those decisions.