Project will strengthen the country's institutional capacity for mobilizing private investment to finance and manage infrastructures and services.
WASHINGTON, DC, October 5, 2022 - The World Bank Board of Directors approved on September 29th, 2022, a US$7.5 million loan to invest in technical assistance to strengthen Panama's institutional capacity to mobilize private capital for the financing and management of infrastructures services.
The "Support to Panama PPP Program Development for Recovery Project" aims at building the capacity of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP, in Spanish) -and potentially other entities involved in the country's PPP agenda- to accelerate the readiness of the first PPPs in a context of economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent crisis.
"The Government of Panama looks forward to accelerating the mobilization of private capital to finance infrastructure development. Those important investments will help recover from the recent crisis with limited fiscal impacts on our budget while contributing to improve the quality of public infrastructure services delivery to the population. The World Bank's support will continue to be key to strengthen the national PPP agenda," said Héctor Alexander, Minister of Economy and Finance of Panama.
Building on the important strides made by the Government with support from the Bank and other International Financial Institutions (IFIs) since the adoption in 2019 of the new law on PPP, the Project will further strengthen PPP planning and management capacities within MOP and other entities involved. It will finance consultancy and non-consultancy services and the provision of goods and minor works to:
· Strengthen planning capacity of the MOP and other entities for PPP identification and prioritization in line with international best practices.
· Build implementation capacity of the MOP and other entities for the execution of a PPP program, through the development of operational policies for PPP preparation, implementation, and monitoring, and the design of management tools.
· Strengthen institutional capacity to mobilize finance for the development of the PPP agenda, through the design of a fund for the preparation of PPP projects and the promotion of increased local, regional and international private participation in the PPP program.
"This Project will expand our support to the country's PPP agenda for the benefit of inclusive and sustainable growth," said Michel Kerf, World Bank Country Director for Central America and the Dominican Republic. "International experience shows that developing sound public-private partnerships in the construction, improvement, and conservation of infrastructure fosters broad economic benefits to the countries and their people."
The US$7.5 million loan for the "Support to Panama PPP Program Development for Recovery Project" has a final maturity of 10 years, including a grace period of 4.5 years.
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