JASPERS Annual Report 2015 the Port of Liepaja in Latvia Is an Important Regional Logistics Centre and Part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN–T)
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JASPERS 20142015 Annual Report print: QH-AN-16-001-EN-C ISBN 978-92-861-2831-8 ISSN 1831-3086 doi:10.2867/113599 © EIB 06/2016 © EIB GraphicTeam digital: QH-AN-16-001-EN-N ISBN 978-92-861-2832-5 ISSN 2443-7085 doi:10.2867/098312 Contents 2 Activity report 4 Overview of activities in 2015 6 Organisation 8 Operational activity: strategic framework 10 Activities under JASPERS mandates 13 Activities of JASPERS divisions 28 Financial information 28 The budget for 2015 30 Annexes 32 Human resources as at 31 December 2015 33 JASPERS portfolio in Member States by country and by division, 31 December 2015 34 List of assignments completed under main EU mandate in 2015 37 List of JASPERS-supported major projects approved by the European Commission in 2015 for ERDF and CF funding 39 Sources of funding for JASPERS-supported applications approved in 2015 40 Summary of assignments completed under main EU mandate since 2006 40 JASPERS Networking Platform multi-country activities implemented in 2015 41 JASPERS portfolio under IPA I, by country and by division, 31 December 2015 41 List of assignments completed in IPA countries in 2015 2015 JASPERS Annual Report 1 JASPERS (Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions) is an initiative aimed at improving the quality of investment supported by EU funds (European Regional Development Fund, Cohesion Fund and IPA Funds). It is a partnership between the European Commission (DG Regional and Urban Policy), the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In 2015, DG Mobility and Transport also became a partner of JASPERS. 2 JASPERS Annual Report 2015 The Port of Liepaja in Latvia is an important regional logistics centre and part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN–T). The Liepaja port deepening project consists of dredging activities and the modernisation of the vessel traffic centre. JASPERS advised on technical, economic and financial aspects of the major project application and completed this assignment in March 2015. 2015 JASPERS Annual Report 3 Activity report 4 JASPERS Annual Report 2015 Activity report Overview of activities in 2015 n 2015, JASPERS provided assistance under four Under its continuing mandate to support Candidate separate mandates. Most of JASPERS' output for Countries, three beneficiary countries received sup- I the year continued to be its well-established ad- port for developing investments to be funded by the visory work for the Member States, but the scope of Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA I): the JASPERS expanded to include new areas of activity. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Under its largest and oldest mandate from DG Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), JASPERS pro- In addition to support for project preparation, vided independent expert advice and capacity-build- JASPERS also continued in 2015 to assist both ing support to public authorities and the final benefi- Member States and IPA countries through capacity- ciaries of projects to be funded by the European building activities. Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs). This mandate not only covered the EU Member States that have re- Alongside the DG REGIO and IPA I mandates, a new ceived JASPERS support in the past (Bulgaria, Croatia, mandate was agreed with DG Mobility and Transport Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, (DG MOVE) in 2015 on JASPERS assist for transport Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and projects to be financed by the Connecting Europe Slovenia), but was also extended to eligible regions in Facility. other Member States. More specifically, in 2015 JASPERS’ advisory services were extended to regions In a further expansion of the scope of JASPERS in in France and Italy as part of a progressive expansion 2015, the Steering Committee also agreed to support of JASPERS’ geographical coverage. the European Investment Advisory Hub, a part of the Investment Plan for Europe, as another mandate re- 2015 also marked a transition between two program- quiring additional resources. ming periods of the Structural and Cohesion Funds, 2007-2013 and 2014-2020. JASPERS worked on as- A total of 19 new staff joined JASPERS in 2015 to signments related to projects funded in both peri- meet the additional workload linked to JASPERS’ ex- ods, which are governed by different regulations and panded functions and new mandates. procedures. A significant share of JASPERS’ work in 2015 still related to multi-phased or resubmitted pro- jects, contributing to the absorption of the EU funds available from the 2007-2013 period. Alongside its traditional advisory role in project prep- aration, JASPERS developed procedures to provide the Independent Quality Review service introduced for the 2014–2020 period. Also, at the request of the Member States, JASPERS will appraise project pro- posals prior to their notification to the Commission according to the requirements of the regulations. 2015 JASPERS Annual Report 5 Organisation JASPERS is managed by the EIB and supervised by a Steering Committee (SC), comprising representatives from its partner institutions. The SC is responsible for setting the strategic direction for JASPERS, deciding on major policy issues relating to JASPERS and JASPERS' structure approving its work programme at a general At the beginning of 2015, JASPERS’ structure was re- level. organised into seven divisions to better reflect the growing scope of its activities: • Roads • Rail, Air and Maritime • Water and Wastewater • Smart Development • Energy and Solid Waste • Networking and Competence Centre • Independent Quality Review JASPERS’ headquarters are in Luxembourg, with offices in Brussels, Bucharest, Vienna, Warsaw and Sofia. 6 JASPERS Annual Report 2015 Activity report JASPERS' resources or to manage periods of particularly high workload. At 31 December 2015, EUR 3.05 million of the annual Between January and December 2015, 19 new ex- budget for external consultancy services had been perts and four new support staff joined JASPERS to committed and EUR 1.71 million had been disbursed. meet the additional workload under JASPERS’ ex- A total of 46 contracts were ongoing in 2015, spread panded functions and mandates. across 25 different consulting companies or individ- ual consultants. At the end of December 2015, JASPERS had a total of 116 staff, made up of 97 professional and 19 support staff. Details of JASPERS staff by sector and location are available in Annex 1. In addition to its own staff, JASPERS sometimes uses consultants to complement the in-house expertise 2015 JASPERS Annual Report 7 Operational activity strategic framework In 2015, the Steering Committee endorsed JASPERS’ 2015-2017 Operational Plan, including the prioritisation of activities, geographical expansion, new mandates supporting EU policy and the development of a new performance framework. 8 JASPERS Annual Report 2015 Activity report • Maintaining JASPERS delivery model: JASPERS ad- vice will continue to be made available to public authorities on the basis of demand-led, rolling an- nual action plans of agreed assignments and asso- ciated deliverables; • Independent Quality Review: JASPERS will offer all Member States an independent quality review for major project applications as provided for under Articles 100-102 of the Common Provisions Regulation; • Post-Submission Appraisal (PSA) for the European Commission: at the request of the European Commission, JASPERS will carry out an appraisal of The Vilnius City Western Bypass Stage III all projects submitted directly by the Member project, located along the North-South States to the Commission, which do not follow the TEN-T corridor in the west of Vilnius, IQR procedure outlined in the previous point; Lithuania, contributes to strengthening the local economy and its competitiveness • More upstream strategy support: JASPERS experts and supports the development of the will continue to provide strategic upstream advice, city. JASPERS reviewed and assisted with depending on the nature of investments in specific the preparation of the grant application sectors/countries; and its annexes in order to ensure their completeness, consistency and quality. • New focus on sectors supporting key thematic ob- This assignment was completed in jectives: the two new sector divisions established in December 2015. 2015 (Energy and Solid Waste and Smart Development) provide a focus for advice on low carbon investments and smart development, in- cluding integrated urban investments; • Geographical expansion: JASPERS offers its adviso- Broader support for Cohesion ry services to all countries that will use European Policy Structural and Investment Funds. Priority will be given to less developed and transition regions; The purpose of the plan, which establishes opera- tional objectives for JASPERS until a mid-term review • Other mandates supporting EU policy: JASPERS ex- in 2017, was to align the operational priorities of perts will support other major projects and pro- JASPERS with the relevant EU policies, assess re- grammes in related policy areas, including the source needs and provide a baseline for reporting. Connecting Europe Facility and IPA II; At its meeting on 13 July 2015, the SC approved the following key strategic orientations: • Capacity-building and horizontal assignments will continue to complement project development ac- • Support for the preparation of major projects re- tivities, in particular by offering capacity-building, mains the priority and “core