China tests PPP framework in Anhui province

Hong Kong-listed engineering firm Beijing Urban Construction Design & Development Group (BJUCD) has been awarded the Outer Ring North Road public private partnership (PPP) project in the Chinese city of Anqing.

The signing, which was attended by a spate of national and local authority public officials, marks the start of a trial of the new PPP model being developed at the state level. 

“The PPP project of Waihuan North Road in Anqing is of great significance to the locals and has attracted broad attention from the governments at all levels and the public”, said Chen Daihua, chairman of the board, secretary of the CPC Committee and general manager of BUCG. 

“The project of Waihuan North Road will connect all sections of the city together, and play an important role in building the ‘inner road net and outer road ring’ urban traffic system and boosting the urban construction. Adopting the PPP operation, the project also has great significance for accelerating the urban infrastructure construction with the aid of social capital,” added Yu Aihua, secretary of CPC Anqing Committee. 

The team will build on its experience of construction and management to “explore an effective and win-win operating pattern for PPP projects and forge this PPP project into a national demonstration project”, a company statement noted. 

The concession agreement was signed by the Anqing City Housing and Urban-rural Construction Committee. Under the agreement, the company and Anqing Urban Construction Investment and Development, a wholly state-owned enterprise, will establish a joint venture company. 

The registered capital of the project company is RMB500 million (€71.6 million; $81.7 million), with 88 percent and 12 percent of the registered capital to be subscribed by Beijing Urban Construction Group and Anqing Urban Construction Investment and Development, respectively. 

According to the tender, the project will adopt the public private partnership model, with a maximum construction period of two years and an operation period of 11 years. BUCDD is responsible for the investment, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the motorway. 

The Outer Ring North Road of Anqing City is located in the eastern and northern region of Anqing City in Anhui Province. 

The works involved will comprise the construction of a substantial part of the main roads system of the downtown area in Anqing City as well as a main road that connects the northwest-southeast districts. 

Anqing is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Anhui province, China. It borders Lu’an to the north, Hefei and Wuhu to the northeast, Tongling to the east, Chizhou to the southeast, and the provinces of Jiangxi and Hubei to the south and west, respectively. Its population was 5.3 million at the 2010 census.