Karanović & Nikolić advised in the signing of the biggest PPP project in Serbia for the landfill remediation and development of the waste treatment facility in Belgrade, Vinča. The Belgrade Secretariat for Environmental Protection, the company “Beočista Energija” and the French–Japanese consortium, SUEZ Groupе – I-Environment Investments limited, signed a public-private partnership for the financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the waste management treatment and disposal centre in Serbia.
The Karanović & Nikolić legal team, led by senior partner Darko Jovanović and Mina Srecković, was part of the consortium of advisors to the City of Belgrade and the IFC. The team advised IFC and City in all local law aspects of this landmark PPP project in Serbia, including detailed review of the institutional and regulatory framework pertaining to the envisaged transaction, key parties and associated sectors; risk allocation exercise; reviewing and/or drafting the transaction documents (PPP agreement, heat take-off, land lease and other project documents); assisted in preparing all public procurement documents and the contract award and signing process.
Valued at 300 million euros, this is the biggest public-private partnership agreement thus signed in the region. According to the City of Belgrade officials, this is also one of the most important contracts that the City signed in decades. The waste management facility in Vinča will be completely sanitized – solving years long environmental problems. After the restructuring and with the new facilities, Vinča will be able to produce thermal heating and electric energy.
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, was one of the advisors to the City of Belgrade in reaching this private-public partnership, offering its expertise throughout the process. Hogan Lovels UK acted as IFC’s international legal advisor.
