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«Infrastructure test drive» of PPP projects in the field of urban land rail transport took place in Moscow on November 21, 2017. The event was organized by the Community of infrastructure projects market professionals “Infrastructure Club” (InfraClub) and one of the leading legal consultants on PPP projects in Russia — Kachkin and Partners.

Representatives of financial and banking community (Gazprombank, Sberbank of Russia, VTB Capital, Eurasian Development Bank), suppliers of rolling stock (Transport Systems, Transmashholding, Stadler), construction, scientific and consulting organizations gathered at one platform for the first time with the main goal — to answer the question «How to implement PPP projects in land rail transport?», regarding urban tram systems primarily.

The decline of the tramway in Russia in general does not correspond to the world trend, which indicates its active development. After all, the tram is not only the most economical, but also the most environmentally friendly and fast type of urban land transport. Negative trend should be replaced by an active influx of private investments and competencies into this area. This was mentioned at the latest State Council for Transport in Ulyanovsk on September 22, 2017. More than 10 Russian cities have already outlined in their infrastructure agenda the need to prepare projects for the development of tram networks with the involvement of extrabudgetary sources, but so far they have not been able to reach the implementation phase.

In order to identify the «soft spots» of projects for modernization of urban tram systems Denis Kachkin, Head of Infrastructure and PPP Practice of Kachkin and Partners, presented the research «Evaluation of perspectives of PPP development in urban land rail transport», which marked the semantic vector of the discussion. In the framework of the research, issues of current state of the tram system, peculiarities of legislative regulation, specifics of infrastructure projects financing and tariff formation were considered. The result was the presentation of available organizational and legal models for the implementation of investment projects on construction and reconstruction of the urban tram network, as well as the «road map» of the project preparation.

A special interest among the participants of the event was caused by a stress test of investment initiatives for the construction and reconstruction of municipal tramway systems in Ulyanovsk and Yekaterinburg. Especially for the «Infrastructural Test Drive» a jury was formed, consisting of heads of the largest infrastructure banks and funds, as well as existing experts and private partners of relevant projects. The jury members actively expressed their opinion on economic feasibility and investment attractiveness of the projects demonstrated.

As a result of the meeting the discussion participants agreed that modernization of urban tram systems is the future, but for the emergence of such initiatives it is necessary to improve the effectiveness of interaction between a private investor and municipal authorities, at the same time not forgetting the proper structuring of projects.