The EBRD and the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA), in cooperation with the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Secretariat of the Greek Ministry of Economy and Development, have signed an agreement for the preparation of a PPP project to construct a new research center and renovate an existing building in Athens.
This is the first time that the Bank is supporting a PPP project in Greece. The venture includes the construction, acquisition of equipment and facility management of a new building for the provision of specialized services in the field of personalized medicine. The new facilities will house a state-of-the-art laboratory that meets high-tech specifications, in area totaling 20,000 m².
Furthermore, the project includes the renovation of the Loverdeion building, in order to create a unit for clinical trials of generic drugs. The total investment is estimated to be approximately €52 million.
The EBRD will cover the costs of technical assistance in the organization of this PPP project as well as the cost of preparing fair and transparent tenders in order to attract the participation of private investors.
The BRFAA is a non-profit institute dedicated to understanding, treating and preventing human diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s and cardiomyopathies, through biomedical research. Established by the Academy of Athens, the foundation provides state-of-the-art facilities for conducting internationally competitive biomedical research and works with more than 250 postdoctoral fellows, laboratory technicians, and PhD students.
The project will be prepared under the EBRD’s Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility (IPPF), which offers an improved support mechanism focused on the preparation of bankable projects, coupled with a coordinated approach to infrastructure policy dialogue. The IPPF aims to mobilize and catalyze greater levels of private sector investment in infrastructure through support for PPP approaches to procurement.
The EBRD started investing in Greece on a temporary basis in 2015 to support the country’s economic recovery. The Bank’s priorities there include strengthening private companies and the financial sector and supporting privatization, infrastructure development and regional integration of the Greek economy. To date, the EBRD has invested over €1.5 billion in more than 30 projects in Greece.
Original source: EBRD
Published on 25 April 2018
