A Vision of the Policy Concerning the Financing and Management of Physical Infrastructure in Network Industries in Slovenia

Abstract

There are many reasons why Slovenia needs to change its management of network industry infrastructure and question the legacy we wish to pass onto the next generation. However, these issues are not at the forefront of the public debate despite being as relevant today as the pension reform, if not even more. Until now, no government in Slovenia has adopted a systemic approach to infrastructure-related issues; instead, they have let partial interests prevail. This paper and the vision of infrastructure management present a synthesis of the current state of profession and past experiences in infrastructure management and financing acquired by the most developed countries, as well as practical experiences concerning the regulation, financing, and management of network industry infrastructure. The practical experience and empirical findings call for a consistent use of the RAB principles and for the restructuring of certain and partial privatization of all network industries. Foreign experience tells us that if the changes are correctly implemented, the current state of infrastructure can be significantly improved and could lead to a considerable decrease in real infrastructure costs and/or an increase in the availability of funds for infrastructure renovation or expansion. In the future, EU regulations might also expand and raise their requirements to meet the state of the art, but Slovenia need not wait for the EU. The introduction of such a policy would also mean a quantum leap in terms of the competitiveness of Slovenia's economy and bring the country closer to the world's most developed economies.