The Peruvian government has put before parliament a proposal to increase port concessions from a maximum of 30 years to an upper level of 60 years.
The aim is to improve the level of investment made by private operators in infrastructure, whether they are existing concessionaires or new ones.
Longer concessions, it is argued, will help the government in its negotiations with operators as a means of modernising existing infrastructure through better investment than is currently being seen. In addition, it should help boost capacity, it claimed.
According to the government, having longer concession periods will also allow companies to generate better efficiencies through economies of scale, as well as prompting greater project innovations.
It also noted that, the longer the operator remains in situ, there will be more time to amortise investments made, therefore tenders can be structured with more competitive tariffs, leading to lower costs for foreign trade.
