PPP contract signed in Poznan – DZP's successful legal advisory to the City

On 8 April the City of Poznan and SITA Zielona Energia sp. z o.o. signed a contract for the construction of a waste incinerator using a PPP. The private partner undertook to design, build and then operate for 25 years a municipal waste thermal treatment plant with the capacity to incinerate 210,000 tonnes of waste per year. Start-up is planned in 2016.

The cost of building the plant is over PLN 725 million and will be financed entirely by the private partner. However, the PPP contract provides for part of the private financing to be replaced with EU funding, which could lead to a reduction in project costs.

In a procedure started in April 2011 to select the private partner, the City of Poznan's legal adviser was DZP. DZP was responsible for providing all legal advice during the project: preparing the legal structure for the venture, participating in market sounding, and also drawing up documentation for the tender to select the private partner. Our experts also successfully represented the City in appeal proceedings in the National Appeal Chamber.

DZP's experience enabled the proceedings to be finalised by the planned deadline, which increased Poznań's chance of obtaining EU funding. The DZP team's work was co-ordinated by Magdalena Zabłocka, Senior Associate in the Infrastructure & Energy Practice.