Countries in Central and Eastern Europe account for 28% of EU territory and 22% of its population but only 10% of its GDP, and one of the main challenges for the region is finding financing sources for transport infrastructure projects. Over EUR80 billion in EU structural and cohesion funds was invested in the region in the 2007-2013 financing period, PwC said in a press release Thursday.
But financing needs remain high,a s the region needs EUR615 billion by 2025, according to a report by PwC and Atlantic Council, titled “The road ahead – CEE transport infrastructure dynamics”.
“Despite progress registered in the past years, countries in the region still have a shortage of investments in transport infrastructure. It is clear though that financing needs exceed current financing available from national budgets, Romania’s included, and we need to seek additional resources in the private sector, through public-private partnerships. Sadly, although Romania has basic public-private partnership legislation, it lacks regulatory norms, therefore such legislation cannot be applied,” said Ionut Simion, Country Managing Partner with PwC Romania.
“Romania particularly needs massive investment to improve transport infrastructure. In the 2007-2013 EU financing period, of a total of EUR82 billion invested in transport infrastructure projects in the region, Romania attracted less than 7%, while the rate in Poland exceeded 30%,” added Ruxandra Chirita, director of public sector consultancy services.
The EU has played an unprecedented role in helping CEE build its transport infrastructure – over EUR 150 billion has been spent from EU structural funds, with additional money made available from the Connecting Europe Facility and the European Investment Bank. Moreover, private investors poured billions of euros into key transport projects in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Croatia.
Based on its own project experience in CEE and discussions with stakeholders, PwC makes six recommendations for delivering the transport infrastructure required to achieve the Three Seas region’s growth ambitions: political consensus, coordination on a regional level, prioritization of projects, mobilizing the private sector to overcome financing constraints, increasing the efficiency of existing projects, and monitoring of lessons learnt.