DZP advises on largest PPP public transport project

DZP has advised the City of Kraków on Phase IV of the Krakow Fast Tram project – a project involving the design, build and operation of a new tram line. On 30 January 2023, the investment's private partner secured financing from Bank Pekao S.A., the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Polish Development Fund S.A. (PFR). The project is also being supported by the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy.

This is the largest public transport project to be carried out by a PPP in Poland and the second largest project in the history of the Polish PPP market. Capital expenditure is over PLN 1 billion and the private partner (a company from the Turkish Gulermak group), in addition to building the infrastructure, will be required to operate and maintain it in good condition for the next 20 years.

DZP in a consortium with Mott MacDonald and Crido has been providing comprehensive legal, economic, financial and technical advice in this groundbreaking project to the Krakow City Roads Authority since June 2017. The consortium supported the Contracting Authority at all stages of the project, from project structuring, through preparation of tender documentation (e.g. PPP agreement, functional utility programme and financial model preparation instructions), negotiations during a competitive dialogue and representation before the National Appeal Chamber. It also supported Krakow in assessing contractors' tenders, concluding the agreement with the private partner and negotiating the agreement directly regulating the cooperation between the parties to the PPP agreement and the banks providing financing to the private partner for the investment.

The project is being carried out by an interdisciplinary team supervised by Marcin Krakowiak, Partner and Head of the Infrastructure & Energy Practice, and Michal Przychoda, Senior Associate, and composed of Tomasz Darowski, Partner, Norbert Zakrzewski, Associate, and experts from the Capital Markets & Financial Institutions Practice: Magdalena Skowrońska, Partner, and Tomasz Kalicki, Senior Associate.