At first, preparations for the launch of the latest public private partnership (PPP) in Austria’s wastewater sector didn’t seem to come to an end (also read aqua press 2/2005; p. 35 ff). But when the right private partner – WTE Wassertechnik GmbH – was found and deals were closed, plant construction and commissioning progressed quite rapidly. After 23 months of construction and subsequent testing, the upgraded and extended sewage treatment plant for the town of Zistersdorf, Lower Austria, was finally inaugurated in an open-house celebration on 22nd June. During plant construction, WTE also laid 52 km of sewer pipe (mains and laterals in nine communities plus pipes transporting sewage to the plant), built 700 sewer pits and eight pump stations for storm water runoff, and installed 1,600 house connections. The old system shall be restored step by step over the next few years. The WTE headquarters will also lend support to the two specialised workers on site in performing more difficult maintenance and repair tasks. Since September 2005, the WTE headquarters have also been in charge of procurement, reporting and other technical and business administration matters.
A happy ending at long last
In his opening speech, Past Mayor Johann Hofstetter took a retrospective view of what had started out as a controversial project criticised by many of the city’s political stakeholders.
He noted the general apprehension of people in rural areas towards new developments (such as PPP) and praised the final decision to take the risk, which he found deserved a double respect. The politician was also impressed by the pace at which the project was eventually completed. Nine years had passed from the first contact with potential private partners and several fact-finding missions (such as to Kötschach-Mauthen or Waidhofen) until the final commissioning, he said, but that had been nothing compared to the period between the offical approval to build the sewer and the sewage treatment plant (1961) and their actual construction (mid-1990s). Especially so, as the project had stepped on new ground.
Martin Schiefer, a procurement attorney from Vienna entrusted with the international tendering procedure for the project, said that the period between the Zistersdorf town council’s approval by majority vote in March 2002 and the award of contract to WTE in spring 2005 had led to a bullet-proof contract, which today set the standard for similar projects in Austria. In that case a two-stage process had been chosen, in which partners had been entitled to negotiate and prices had been decoupled from technology. “We also agreed with the contracting entity to award building contracts to ‘best bidders’ rather than ‘cheapest bidders’ and to introduce a ‘project cost cash value’. The latter allows to estimate the cost of operation and maintenance for a total contract period of 25 years”, Schiefer said. He also thanked Kommunalkredit Public Consulting (KPC) for their financial consulting services.
Harald Hofmann from the funding agency at the Government of Lower Austria said the important thing was choosing a wastewater solution for Zistersdorf tailored to regional needs. The governmental authorities also had an interest in keeping assets in the hands of local authorities and utility fees at socially tolerable levels, he said.
Wolfgang Peischl, the incumbent mayor of Zistersdorf, assured that fees would remain socially acceptable as they were still under public-authority control. A bonus scheme already introduced during the construction phase should stay in place as an incentive fostering private-partner performance, he said. The example he gave for WTE’s excellent performance was that plant operation had never been interrupted throughout the entire renovation and expansion process.
“After working together closely for more than two years, I am sure our good relations will also last for another 23 years to come”, the mayor concluded. The project seems to have found a happy ending for all parties involved, and town fathers interested in PPP are flocking to Zistersdorf from all over Austria to draw on their experience. We must not forget, however, that Austria is still a white spot on the PPP map with respect to water management. Companies are therefore likely to continue wooing customers among local authorities for some time.
On the other hand, the private sector is now slowly starting to sort out the sheep from the goats. Not all companies have the same resources as WTE, a business division of big player EVN Group, to address sophisticated customer needs.
(Source: aqua press Int. 3/2007, Mag. Christof Hahn)
