SÃO PAULO, Brazil (CMC) — The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has launched the 10th edition of PPP Americas, the principal forum on public-private partnerships in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

The IDB said that the two-day event aims to help jump-start economic recovery in the region by supporting the use of PPP approaches and fostering better planning and maintenance of infrastructure projects in the challenging context of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Featuring noted experts from the public and private sectors, PPP Americas ends later on Friday through an innovative hybrid format.

“Infrastructure services are the backbone of our countries’ socio-economic development and competitiveness. Closing the infrastructure gap requires not just investing in assets, but doing so more intelligently,” IDB President Mauricio Claver-Carone said.

“That is why, in line with our Vision 2025, the IDB is fostering collaboration between the public and private sectors under the public-private partnership model to improve planning, building and operation of this type of project to help stimulate the region’s sustainable recovery.” 

The IDB said that forum participants will seek to drive the design and operation of infrastructure projects that generate improved living conditions for the people of Latin America and the Caribbean through better electricity transmission lines, roads, schools, hospitals, sanitation networks, water supply, ports and airports.

“Development in Latin America and the Caribbean is significantly hindered by lack of investment in infrastructure. This investment gap accounts for an estimated loss of about one per cent in gross domestic product (GDP) growth. This cost would soar to 15 per cent in unrealised growth if the gap were to persist for 10 years or more.”

The IDB said that closing the region’s infrastructure gap would require investing 3.12 per cent of GDP, or an estimated US$185 billion, annually.

“Doing so would enable adequate access to infrastructure services, including water and sanitation, electricity, transport, and communications, and ensure the infrastructure’s sustainability, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“As the region has been investing only 1.8 per cent of GDP in infrastructure during the 2008-2019 period, a dramatic rise of 70 per cent in the level of investment would be required to meet the SDGs by 2030. However, every dollar invested in infrastructure can add up to two dollars to the region’s GDP.”