WIN-WIN WITH PPP
[BIZ: Bergilers, March 2] Currently in Wallonia the principle PPP developments are residential in Mons, there is the Toit & Moi and the building firm Thomas & Piron who are together developing 350 housing units in the Ile aux Oiseaux district. In Herstal, an old industrial building is going to be converted into an eco village with 400 units. However, it is not just a question of the residential property investment. There are various districts that have reached the limits of their investment capacity and are looking at PPP to re-energize certain quarters. The formula is an option for the redesign of the Guillemins station area in Liège. The town of Seraing has passed through the thinking stage and has adopted a master plan for re-conversion of the industrial valley. And there are others that can be mentioned. In the Eriges area there are projects such as Neocitta, Ateliers centraux and Cristal Park at Val Saint Lambert. Another example is the SPI+, which has associated with a private client to transform the old Kraft building at Jupille into spaces for SMEs in the agro-food sector. The province of Luxembourg is a pioneer in the Walloon country in PPPs and Idelux has found partners to develop the Ardennes logistics park at Neufchateau. There’s a lot going on.
DataQuest, the research department of the ImmoQuest real estate company has focused on a new study on public-private partnerships (PPP). PPPs are being increasingly used for the completion of infrastructures—the really big ones such as the Millau Viaduct in France and the smaller ones like accommodation, businesses, offices, sporting centers and cultural centers. According to the European investment bank BMI, more than EUR 100bn will be invested in PPP projects in Europe over the next five years in the transport, health, and health and environment sectors. In Belgium the formula is little used, less in the Walloon country than in Flanders, which has its own center of expertise. It’s a question of culture and political choice, but that is beginning to be less important. It’s not simply a question of an appeal from public sectors without money to private resources, it’s an exchange, a union of energies which make the formula interesting.
http://www.immoquest.be/