ORIO (Facility for Infrastructure Development) is a new grant facility funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the responsibility of the Minister of Development Cooperation for support of public private partnerships in developing countries. The Facility wishes to encourage involvement of international private businesses in the development and realisation of public infrastructure projects in order to utilise the knowledge, skills and developing power of the private sector. ORIO provides grant funding throughout the entire project cycle including development, implementation (construction and/or renovation), operation and maintenance of the public infrastructure projects. Total budget for ORIO is EUR 180 million per year.  

Grant applications for ORIO are developed and submitted by a consortium made up of the national government concerned and the private sector parties. Projects will be selected on the basis of their relative merits rather than "first come, first serve" basis.  The assessment process will consider the extent to which projects are demand driven and development related. The level of involvement of small and medium enterprises will also be considered while assessing the projects. Two grant tender procedures are organised annually to receive applications for ORIO. The first tender for ORIO in 2009 is now open and will be closing on 15 May 2009.

The maximum project amount is EUR 60 million, while the minimum is EUR 2 million. For the extent of the grant percentage a distinction is made between the development phase, the implementation, operation and maintenance phase. For the project development phase, a grant of 50% is granted while for the implementation, operation and maintenance phase 35% is granted.  The remaining project cost is financed by the recipient government. The duration time of the ORIO project can be up to ten years.

ORIO focuses on a limited number of priority sectors per country. Macedonia is one of the countries that can make use of ORIO. The priority sectors for ORIO in Macedonia that were selected in a consultation with the national authorities are energy, environment and social services including health and education. The relevant line ministries are informed about the application procedures.

For more information on the ORIO visit:
 http://www.evd.nl/business/programmes/programmaint_ori.asp?land=ori

Press coverage:
 http://www.idividi.com.mk/Biznis/MakBiznis/512916/index.html

 http://www.mia.com.mk/default.aspx?mId=2&vId=62975187&lId=1&title=%D0%9C%D0%90%D0%9A%D0%95%D0%94%D0%9E%D0%9D%D0%98%D0%88%D0%90+-+%D0%95%D0%9A%D0%9E%D0%9D%D0%9E%D0%9C%D0%98%D0%88%D0%90

http://vecer.com.mk/default.asp?ItemID=4DF18C5B4361C4408CE11D3F7743AD80