World Finance magazine, part of World News Media Group and dominant provider of information to project finance, PPP and privatization stakeholders, has shortlisted The Pleven Regional Water PPP in the category Water Deal of the Year. The €200 million, 25-year concession has matched all the key criteria of the program, including best practice, innovation, problem solving, risk mitigation, knowledge transfer and socio-economic impact. The magazine has recognized the project for being instrumental to the building of the necessary capacity to run further regional water systems more effectively. Pleven Regional Water PPP is also seen as a marker for private sector participation in the water sector, with a view to aiding further deal replication.
World Finance cites the role of the previous Bulgarian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, through its political will, policy coordination, and regulatory framework, together with its practices in the development, preparation, feasibility studies, and implementation of the Pleven Project. In addition World Finance has praised the governments overcoming many major legal obstacles to ensure this and future PPP implementation.
Pleven Regional Water PPP was launched as the pilot PPP project in a larger program of the Bulgarian ministry of regional development and public works, financed by the World Bank. Since the beginning of 2007, Kambourov & Partners, together with Norton Rose, advised the International Finance Corporation in relation to the above mentioned program, involving the implementation of public-sector participation in the Bulgarian water sector. Throughout the first stage of the program, Kambourov & Partners provided legal advice on the Bulgarian legislation, made formal propositions for legislative changes with a view to alleviating public-sector partnerships in the water sector, drafted a new Water Act (the one currently in force), assisted in the preparation of an optimal structure for implementing the transactions; advised on land, facility and grid ownership and carried out the legal due diligence of nine water and sewage companies throughout the country. In 2011, the firm was instructed with the second stage of the program, where out of the nine water and sewage companies, the one in Pleven was launched as the pilot PPP project.