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Last data update: July, 2008

Glossary

Acronyms Used in the Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects Database:
  ADB Asian Development Bank
  AFIDB African Development Bank
  BCIE Central American Bank for Economic Integration
  BLT Build, Lease, Transfer
  BOAD Banque Ouest Africaine de Developpement
  BOT Build, Operate, Transfer
  BOO Build, Operate, Own
  BROT Build, Rehabilitate, Operate, Transfer
  CAF Corporacion Andina de Fomento
  EBRD European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
  EIB European Investment Bank
  IADB Inter-American Development Bank
  IIC Inter-American Investment Corporation
  IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
  IDB Islamic Development Bank
  IFC International Finance Corporation
  IPP Independent Power Producer
  MIGA Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
  PPA Power Purchase Agreement
  ROT Rehabilitate, Operate, Transfer
  RLT Rehabilitate, Lease, Transfer
Amount of Development Bank Support: The resources committed by a multilateral agency to the project under a specific type of support (equity, guarantees, loan, quasi-equity, risk management, or syndication). See Development Bank Support.
Canceled Project: See Status.
Capacity: It is the size of a project measured in the units of the capacity type assigned to the project. For electricity generation, energy transmission, water treatment, and transport projects, the capacity quoted is usually the one expected when project becomes fully operational. For energy distribution, water distribution, and telecommunications projects, the capacity is usually tracked for each year that information is available. While investment figures are either reported on total commitment basis in the year of financial closure or annual flows for some projects, capacity size information is cumulative. See Capacity Type.
Capacity Type: Only one capacity type is assigned to a project so capacity type selected is the one that best represents the primary service provided by the project:  
  • Number of kilometers is used for road, railway, energy transmission, and telecommunications long-distance carrier projects.
  • Installed megawatts are used for electricity generation projects.
  • Thousands of cubic meters per day is used for water treatment plants.
  • Thousands of installed connections is used for telecommunications network and water or electricity distribution projects.
  • Throughput (thousand of TEU per year) is used for seaport terminals.
  • Population (thousand) is used for electricity and electricity distribution projects when information of installed connections is not available.
Contract Period: The length of time measured in years that the terms of a contract agreement are in place. See Contract Termination Year.
Contract Termination Year: Date at which the final phase of the contract arrangement is completed, and at which the terms of the contract cease to bind the public and private parties. For canceled projects, the contract termination year is the year at which the contract was terminated (see Status) and not the year in which the contract was initially set to expire.
Country: The low- or middle-income country(ies) in which the project has been developed and provides services to the public. Cross-border projects (i.e. the ones that involved more than one country) include all relevant countries.

Country IDA Status: The International Development Association (IDA), member of the World Bank Group, classifies low- and middle- income countries based on the per capita income and ability to borrow on market terms. There are three categories:
  • IDA: Countries that are eligible for IDA resources on the basis of low per capita income and lack of creditworthiness to borrow on market terms
  • Blend: This category is used to classify countries that are eligible for IDA resources on the basis of per capita income but also have limited creditworthiness to borrow from IBRD
  • Non-IDA: Countries that are only eligible to borrow from IBRD based on per capita income

Data in the Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects Database currently uses the 2006 World Bank classification by IDA status of each low- and middle-income country published in July 2006.

Country Income Group: The World Bank classifies developing economies in three groups based on per capita income:
  • low-income
  • lower-middle-income
  • upper-middle-income
Data on the Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects Database currently use the 2006 World Bank classification by income group of each developing economy published in July 2006.
Cross-Border Project: A project that has been implemented in more than one country. The country designation field of a cross-border project lists all countries in which the project has been implemented.
Development Bank Support: This is financial support that a multilateral institution has given to a project, and is recorded in millions of US dollars in the year it is committed. The types of financial support tracked are:

Equity - multilateral institutions are allowed to invest in equity except for IADB, IBRD and IDA

Guarantees - two types of guarantees are covered:
  • political risk coverage against currency inconvertibility, expropriation, war/civil disturbance and breach of contract
  • partial credit guarantees, which turn medium-term finance into a longer-term arrangement by guaranteeing longer maturity or offering liquidity guarantees in the form of put options and take-out financing
Loan - direct loan using the multilateral institution funds (also referred to as A-loan)

Quasi-equity - these products have both debt and equity characteristics and some of them are convertible debt, subordinated loan investments, and preferred stock and income note investments (also referred to as C-loan)

Risk management - the risk management products, or derivatives, allow project companies to hedge currency, interest rate, or commodity price exposure. Some of them are currency and interest rate swap, options and forward contracts and derivatives.

Syndication - a multilateral institution arranges the financing with the resources of other investors, but the institution is always the lender-of-record (also referred to as B-loan)
Financial Closure: Closure occurs when there is legally binding commitment of private sponsors to mobilize funding or provide services. The definition of financial or contractual closure varies among types of private participation as a result of availability of public information. See definition of financial (or contractual) closure in Stage at which projects are included in the database.
Financial Closure Year: The year in which private sponsors agreed to a legally binding agreement to invest funds or provide services.
Government support: Hosting governments provide financial support to or reduce the financial risk of a project in many ways. The forms of government support tracked by the PPI database tracks are the following:

Cash subsidy - This is when a government agrees to provide cash subsidy to a project. It can be a total lump sum or a fixed amount per new connection, and payments can be either in installments or all at once. Cash subsidies are included in the "investments in physical assets" total for projects in which the private party takes some investment risk/decisions: concessions, divestitures and greenfields.

Payment Guarantee - This is when a government agrees to fulfill the obligations of a purchaser (typically a state-owned-enterprise) with respect to the private entity in the case of non-performance by the purchaser. The most common example of this is when a government guarantees the fixed payment of an off-take agreement (e.g. Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), Water Purchase Agreement (WPA)) between a private entity and the state-owned enterprise.

Debt Guarantee - This is when a government secures the borrowings of a private entity. That is, a government guarantees repayment to creditors in the case of a default by a private entity.

Revenue Guarantee - This is when a government sets a minimum variable income for the private operator; typically this income is from user fee payments by end-use customers. This form of guarantee is most common in roads with minimum traffic or revenue set by a government.

Exchange Rate Guarantee - This is when a government protects a private entity from fluctuations in the value of the local currency. For example, the government will agree to reimburse the private entity for losses on debt services if the value of the local currency dips by, say, 20 percent or greater.

Construction Cost Guarantee - This is when a government protects a private entity from potential cost overruns in the construction phase of a project.

Investment in physical assets (formerly known as investment in facilities): Resources the project company commits to invest in facilities during the contract period. Investments can be either in new facilities or in expansion and modernization of existing facilities. Data entry varies across sectors:
  • For projects other than telecommunications and large energy utilities, the total cost of developing or expanding the facility during the contract period is entered as investment data in the year of financial closure (for which data are typically available).
  • For telecommunications projects and some large energy utilities, annual investments on facility expansion and modernization are entered as investment data in the year of investment when information is publicly available. 
Investments are recorded in millions of US dollars in either the year of financial closure or year of investment as indicated above.
Payments to the government (formerly known as Investment in Government Assets): Resources the project company spends on acquiring government assets such as state-owned enterprises, rights to provide services in a specific area or the use of specific radio spectrums. License fees, canon payments or divestiture revenues are the common revenue collection mechanisms. Investments are recorded in millions of US dollars
Percentage Private: The percentage of the project company that is owned by private sponsors. Data on private shares are cumulative and reflects annual changes. The private share data is entered for all years available in the project history table, even though it has not changed. For the years in which there is no change in the private share, the latest available value is used.
Primary Sector: The primary sector is classified according to the four infrastructure sectors covered and is defined by the main infrastructure services provided by the project to the public. See Secondary Sector.
Project Company: This is the corporate entity created to manage the project. It is usually incorporated in the hosting country and in most cases the project company is quoted as the project name.
Project Location: This is the area where the facilities are located (for example, toll roads) or the geographic area (for example, water services or telecommunication services) that the project committed to serve under its contract
Project Name: This is the most commonly occurring or recent name of the project in English. In some sectors, the name of the Project Company is the Project Name. See Related Names.
Region: This is the region to which the low- or middle-income country in which the project has been developed belongs, according to the 2006 World Bank classification published in July 2006.
Related Names: All names other than the project name by which the project is referred to, including abbreviated names, acronyms, old or other names.
Secondary Sector: For projects that provide services across more than one infrastructure sector, the secondary sector is the second main infrastructure service that the project provides to the public. Most common multi-sector projects involve the energy (electricity) and water sectors services. For projects that involve both electricity and water services, energy has been recorded as the primary sector and water as the secondary one. Therefore, aggregated reports attribute investment of those projects to the energy sector rather than to the water one.
Segment: This is the most detailed definition of infrastructure services provided by a project. See Subsector, Sector, and Technology/Fuel. The segments by subsector are:
  • electricity - generation, transmission, and distribution
  • natural - gas Transmission and distribution
  • telecommunications - fixed access, mobile access, and long distance
  • airports - runway and terminal
  • seaports - channel dredging and terminal
  • railways - fixed assets, freight, intercity passenger, and urban passenger
  • toll-roads - bridge, highway, and tunnel
  • treatment plant – potable and sewerage treatment plants
  • utilities – water utilities with and without sewerage service
Sponsor: Sponsors are private entities that have an equity participation of at least 15 percent in the project in the year of data update. A foreign state-owned enterprise is considered a private entity. If no single sponsor has equity participation of at least 15 percent, the database identifies the sponsor as Others.
Status: Infrastructure projects tracked by the Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects Database are:
  • under construction projects for which assets are being built
  • operational projects that have started providing services to the public
  • concluded projects for which the contract period has expired and was neither renewed nor extended by either the government or the operator
  • canceled projects from which the private sector has exited in one of the following ways:
    • selling or transferring its economic interest back to the government before fulfilling the contract terms.
    • removing all management and personnel from the concern
    • ceasing operation, service provision, or construction for 15 percent or more of the license or concession period, following the revocation of the license or repudiation of the contract
  • distressed projects where the government or the operator has either requested contract termination or are in international arbitration.

Subsector: The Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects Database divides each sector in subsectors as follows, see Sector and Segment:

  • energy - electricity and natural gas
  • telecommunications - telecommunications
  • transport - airports, seaports, railways, and toll-roads
  • water and sewerage - treatment plants and utilities
Sub-Type of Private Participation in Infrastructure: The database identifies sub-categories for each of the four types of projects:
Management and Lease Contracts - A private entity takes over the management of a state-owned enterprise for a fixed period while ownership and investment decisions remain with the state. There are two subclasses of management and lease contracts:
  • management contract - The government pays a private operator to manage the facility. The operational risk remains with the government.
  • lease contract - The government leases the assets to a private operator for a fee. The private operator takes on the operational risk.
Concessions - A private entity takes over the management of a state-owned enterprise for a given period during which it also assumes significant investment risk. The database classifies concessions according to the following categories:
  • Rehabilitate, operate, and transfer (ROT): A private sponsor rehabilitates an existing facility, then operates and maintains the facility at its own risk for the contract period.
  • Rehabilitate, lease or rent, and transfer (RLT): A private sponsor rehabilitates an existing facility at its own risk, leases or rents the facility from the government owner, then operates and maintains the facility at its own risk for the contract period.
  • Build, rehabilitate, operate, and transfer (BROT): A private developer builds an add-on to an existing facility or completes a partially built facility and rehabilitates existing assets, then operates and maintains the facility at its own risk for the contract period.
Greenfield Projects - A private entity or a public-private joint venture builds and operates a new facility for the period specified in the project contract. The facility may return to the public sector at the end of the concession period. The database classifies greenfield projects under the following categories:
  • Build, lease, and transfer (BLT): A private sponsor builds a new facility largely at its own risk, transfers ownership to the government, leases the facility from the government and operates it at its own risk up to the expiry of the lease. The government usually provides revenue guarantees through long-term take-or-pay contracts for bulk supply facilities or minimum traffic revenue guarantees.
  • Build, operate, and transfer (BOT): A private sponsor builds a new facility at its own risk, operates the facility at its own risk, and then transfers the facility to the government at the end of the contract period. The private sponsor may or may not have the ownership of the assets during the contract period. The government usually provides revenue guarantees through long-term take-or-pay contracts for bulk supply facilities or minimum traffic revenue guarantees.
  • Build, own, and operate (BOO): A private sponsor builds a new facility at its own risk, then owns and operates the facility at its own risk. The government usually provides revenue guarantees through long-term take-or-pay contracts for bulk supply facilities or minimum traffic revenue guarantees.
  • Merchant: A private sponsor builds a new facility in a liberalized market in which the government provides no revenue guarantees. The private developer assumes construction, operating, and market risk for the project (for example, a merchant power plant).
  • Rental: Electricity utilities or governments rent mobile power plants from private sponsors for periods ranging from 1 year to 15 years. A private sponsor places a new facility at its own risk, owns and operates the facility at its own risk during the contract period. The government usually provides revenue guarantees through short term purchase agreements such as power purchase agreement for bulk supply facilities.
Divestitures - A private entity buys an equity stake in a state-owned enterprise through an asset sale, public offering, or mass privatization program. The database classifies divestitures in two categories:
  • Full: The government transfers 100% of the equity in the state-owned company to private entities (operator, institutional investors, and the like).
  • Partial: The government transfers part of the equity in the state-owned company to private entities (operator, institutional investors, and the like). The private stake may or may not imply private management of the facility.
Technology/Fuel: This field applies only to the following segments:
  • electricity generation - coal, diesel, natural gas, geothermal, hydro, nuclear, steam, and wind
  • fixed access - cable, microwave, VSAT, and wireless local loop (WLL)
  • port terminal - container, dry bulk, liquid bulk, and multi-purpose
Total Investment: It is the sum of investment in physical assets and payments to the government. Investments are recorded in millions of US dollars.
Type of PPI: The database classifies private infrastructure projects in four categories:
  • management and lease contracts
  • concessions (or management and operation contracts with major private capital expenditure)
  • greenfield projects
  • divestitures

The definitions of Types of Private Participation can be found under the definition of Sub-type of Private Participation.

Year of Capacity: The year in which capacity was financed or achieved depending on how a project expands capacity. For projects, whose capacity expands in discrete phases such as electricity generation, energy transmission, water treatment, and transport projects, year of capacity is usually the year of financial closure. For project, whose capacity can be increased continuously such as energy distribution, water distribution, and telecommunications projects, years of capacity are the years for which capacity information is available.
Year of Investment: The year in which investments are committed to the project or in which the transactions take place for divestitures that are phased or where investment requirements are defined by requirements on service coverage and quality and data are available (such as for large privatized electricity and telecommunications companies).
Year of Development Bank Support: The year in which the development bank support was committed to the project. See Development Bank Support.
Year of Percentage Private: Year in which the percentage ownership of the project company by private sponsors changed.

 


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