The Project Financing

The SwissRapide Express project is to be financed via the innovative Private Investment for Public Infrastructure (PI²) Model. In contrast to the PPP (Public Private Partnership) concept, the PI² Model foresees that an infrastructure project is launched as a private or public initiative but is financed to 100 % by private investors. The following are some of the advantages of a PI² project.

All planning, construction and operational costs are covered by the operational revenues.
Premium public infrastructure is made available without demands on taxpayer funding.
Since construction and operations are carried out by the same private organisation(s), the life-cycle costs can be optimised

Government organisations support a PI² Project in partnership with the private companies and investors as follows:

Provide political support for the project
Issue approvals, permits and licences
Provide backing and support for land acquisition

A PI² Project differs from a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model, which is generally launched by a government organisation which then looks for private investment partners who normally provide partial financing for the project.

The PPP model has been utilized in several transport infrastructure projects worldwide in the last decade, for example, in the Øresund Rail/Road project in Denmark /Sweden, in the HSL Zuid High-Speed Rail project in the Netherlands, the Diabolo Rail project in Belgium and the Portugal High Speed Rail project. However, conflicting political interests within PPP projects have often led to serious problems in the construction and operation of the given infrastructure.

The PI² Model is a new approach to infrastructure financing and is currently being considered for other public infrastructure projects around the world, such as the construction of new airports as well as links from airports to city centres.