profile

Vicente Valencia

PPP Executioner | Helping PPP Professionals, Agencies and Equity Providers to market and deliver better PPP Projects | Real Estate Investor | Join 2k Subscribers for this Infra tips and stories

I talk about Personal Growth, Management, Infrastructure and More | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇

PostsLinks
Featured Post

5 Fatal Flaws

A terrible clause about Force Majeure. A lawyers’ money-making machine with the definition of “Substantial regulatory changes” A few days ago, I had the opportunity to discuss common flaws to PPP contracts. Lawyers can be really good drafting millions of pages. They have no idea how real people deal with those pages in a day to day basis. That was the conversation I had with a student of the mentorship. 5 clauses. 5 headaches. Easily avoidable. The clauses, the potential solutions, together...

about 4 hours ago • 1 min read

Despite being on a Saturday, I received a few emails asking about yesterday contract! Look… I have plenty of examples. Yesterday, it was a PPP in the Philippines… but I’ve been working on a few others PPP project. A fantastic example with nice clauses that are less bankable than a PPP for a data center in North Korea. Kenya. A known highway. The Review Procedure. “Disagreements will be discussed” Literally. Good luck with getting a solution. Discussing can be the more frustrating of...

1 day ago • 1 min read

These days I’m enjoying some interesting stuff. There is a clause. In particular, 13.3 of a project agreement. “Foregone Toll Income & ‘Mutual Agreement’ Extension”** I love the title. It deals with cases where the government prevents the toll road from charging the approved tariff. Then, if this happens, logically for political reasons… The government must either: Compensate the monthly Foregone Toll Income, or Grant a Concession Extension, the duration of which must be mutually agreed If...

2 days ago • 1 min read

These days, I usually panic a little. Just a little. Not because of the “social commitments.” And not because of the alcohol… which, let’s be honest, doesn’t do your health any good whether it’s “only one,” “only two,” December or June. No. It’s something worse. Much worse than overeating and overdrinking. Queueing. For me, queueing is more terrifying than being forced to watch an entire season of Big Brother. Nothing good ever comes out of standing in line. Nothing. Maybe disappointment…...

3 days ago • 1 min read

A nice thing of brining my son to daycare and this being in the same building than the main NZ infrastructure agencies is that you meet lots of people. From the doors to the elevator, people having coffee, hanging out in the sofas, etc. Suddenly a “hey, Vicente”, and then… Some free consultation. Well… not as free, as the coffee is excellent, I always order one. “On me”. The usual suspects are: How can ensure competitive tension? How can I deal with claims? How can I prevent claims? How many...

4 days ago • 1 min read

I’ve been closing some insurance policies these days. For myself. Health, life, mortgage, etc. You don’t appreciate enough a good broker until you get one. If you’re serious about investing, this is your second more important broker after your mortgage broker. But I don’t want to talk to you about personal insurance. But PPP insurance. It’s probably one of those fields, most people mess up. Clients. Banks. SPVs… All parties alike. You have insurance to cover accidents on site causing...

5 days ago • 1 min read

I’m doing quite a lot of work these days with market lead proposals. I mean, proposals coming directly from the market and made to the government of New Zealand. I love the ideas put forward by proponent. Their enthusiasm. And commitment. Most of them fail in the “exclusivity” criteria. Why you are so good that the government absolutely needs to negotiate with you directly without going to the market. It’s fascinating. That’s a high bar, but some people get through it. IP, exclusive rights to...

6 days ago • 1 min read

Time for a ridiculous story from the world of infrastructure contracts. You know, those multi-billion-dollar deals where one tiny typo can turn into a legendary office joke. Well… here you are one. Picture this. Somewhere in Europe. A massive bridge project. The contract is huge, hundreds of pages of legal and technical jargon. In the middle of all that, there was supposed to be a clause that said the contractor had to provide a "large-tonnage crane." Don’t ask why. Maybe some stupid Spanish...

7 days ago • 1 min read

I receive their email religiously every week. They fabricate and install curtains. You don’t expect to be renewing those things every week. Nor every year. But here they are, sending those emails weekly. On the other hand, I tried to look for 15 min for the guys that do the shampooing of my carpet. That’s something that you should be doing twice or so a year. Not an email. And still… is there anything more recurrent / certain? Probably yes, but it’s Sunday and I have the brain focused on...

8 days ago • 1 min read

A couple of weeks ago, I received a call from an agent. Vicente, I have this house for you, and you should take a look. I receive the link. I take a look. The ratio rooms: people was 2:1 and I counted the cat as one. “Too big for us”. “Too big? But you can afford it” “That may be true, but it’s too big, we don’t need that space”. The conversation could have ended there, but insistence is too much of a temptation… especially, when you don’t have many prospects. If you thought that the decision...

9 days ago • 1 min read