L’articolo affronta il tema del finanziamento degli investimenti nei servizi idrici in Italia, analizzando l’applicabilità del project finance (PF) ai piani d’investimento del settore. Contrariamente alla maggioranza dei giudizi finora espressi, il PF non si rivela una modalità adeguata per il finanziamento degli investimenti nei servizi idrici. Come possibile alternativa si propone una combinazione di misure di carattere programmatorio e regolatorio, miranti ad anticipare per quanto possibile la realizzazione degli investimenti e a posticipare i tempi di restituzione, rafforzando al contempo le previsioni e le garanzie contrattuali in merito al valore di riscatto del capitale ancora da ammortizzare al termine del l’affidamento. Per rendere tali misure più efficaci, si propone di assistere, con l’utilizzo di garanzie pubbliche, il subentro del nuovo gestore.

DOES PROJECT FINANCE FIT WITH WATER AND SEWERAGE PROJECTS? EVIDENCE FROM THE ITALIAN CASE#We discuss the problem of financing water and sewerage plants in Italy and do so focusing on the application of project finance (PF) to the investment plans in this sector. We use a simulation model on the business plans of a large number of Italian water plants (piani d’ambito) and find that the pattern of cash flows and of debt service are not compatible due to their different duration. Many plants cannot receive financing unless we accelerate the depreciation of invested capital, increase the loan tenor or reduce leverage. Each of these solutions triggers a cost for the final users and this cost must be allocated to one of the involved parties. Indeed, and contrary to most of the opinions on the topic, we argue that PF is not a suitable solution for the financing of water and sewerage plants. In order to make PF a doable alternative for the financing, we propose a regulatory framework that aims to anticipate the timing of the investments and to pospone the debt repayment as much as possible. Furthermore, we propose some form of security on the terminal value of the plants at the end of the concession period, even better if the step in of the new concessionaire is assisted by a public guarantee. In case of fully publicly owned operators, we propose a perpetual concession, provided that independence from regulatory functions is guaranteed. In any case, financing banks must rethink the financing facilities available for the water sector.