One Works hosts annual Exsuf Conference

“Financing the sustainable infrastructures of the future”, was discussed on Thursday 23 June 2022 at One Works, in Milan, at the annual conference of the Center of Excellence on sustainable finance for infrastructures and smart cities (ExSUF), established in 2021 by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe ( UNECE ) and LIUC – Cattaneo University.

In one year, the Center carried out several research and product works. “PPP & Private Capital for sustainable infrastructure and smart cities” is the volume written by a research team of the ExSUF Center (which will be published by Guerini Next) which Michele Lertora, ExSUF and LIUC Researcher – Cattaneo University spoke about. and Guglielmo Pascarelli, AIFI Tax & Legal Office, highlighting some central elements for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of Public Private Partnership projects in Italy.

“In the current international context, characterized by a gap in public funding for the construction of infrastructures, the PPP scheme assumes particular importance. In fact, it can make it possible to create bankable public works with high quality standards in design and construction”, underlines Michele Lertora. “Furthermore, in the case of non-recourse transactions, the debt assumed by the Project Company is private and not accounted for by Eurostat in the calculation of the public debt. At the same time, from a financial point of view, the effects for the Public Administration on both capital and current expenditure during the life of the project must be carefully evaluate”.

Private finance, therefore, which can put around 860 billion dollars in circulation, as highlighted by Anna Gervasoni, scientific director of ExSUF, and be much closer than in the past to the development of the territories: “An important asset for the realization of projects that they must be rigorously sustainable and coordinated with public plans”.

The need to highlight the role and potential of private finance in the financing of sustainable infrastructures is central, with particular attention to the enabling scheme of the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) to create smart cities. At the three “P’s” Stefano De Capitani , President of Municipia, Engineering Group, the company that has supported the Center since its foundation, added a fourth, that of “People” to remind us that: “we need relationships between various subjects and no spot interventions to design sustainable cities”.

After the greetings of the Rector Federico Visconti and Paola Deda, Director of Forests, Land and Housing Division, UNECE, also the speeches by Giulio De Carli, Managing Partner of One Works and Tony Bonnici, Officer in Charge – Cooperation and Partnerships Section at UNECE, before the conclusions entrusted to Roberta Cocco, Co-coordinator of the Advisory Committee for Digital PA, and Giampiero Bambagioni, Vice President of United 4 Smart Sustainable Cities.

“We need collaboration between private and public for an advantage on both sides. The funds are there, the will is lacking”, Roberta Cocco comments, we also certainly agree that it is essential to invest in the digital skills of this country in order to move forward.

To moderate the meeting Walter Mariotti, Editorial Director of Domus and Domus Air.

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