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11 Urban development - Parque das Nações, Lisbon (Portugal)
Size of investment: USD 232 million
Start date: 1992
End date: 2005
Project stage: implementation
Project partners
• Public partners:
o Government of Portugal
o City of Lisbon
o Parque das Nações PPP Unit (State-owned enterprise)
• Private partner: Multiple development, investment and lending partners, developers and
contractors, investors including private equity and mezzanine providers, and debt providers
from commercial banks.
Project description
The Parque das Nações or “Park of the Nations” project envisaged the transformation of an area
in Lisbon suffering from environmental degradation into a landmark destination. East Lisbon,
although in a unique geographic location, was an industrial area for a slaughterhouse, waste depot,
unorganized container storage, refineries and other illicit activities, which eventually contaminated
the land and water. Urban planning and management were developed on a small scale with a low
quality of redevelopment.
In the late 1990s, the government designated the area as the site of the 1998 Lisbon World
Exposition, or Expo 98. Expo 98 hosted 130 countries and international organisations and had the
theme of “The Oceans: A Heritage for the Future”. The entire area of East Lisbon at the waterfront
was rebuilt for the event. This led to the transformation of the area into a modern commercial and
residential district - Parque das Nações. The Parque das Nações is now a popular destination for
those visiting or living in Lisbon. It boasts a large shopping centre, a state-of-the-art oceanarium, a
modern casino, water gardens, a viewing tower and large numbers of restaurants and bars.
Urban development models were designed to attain a unique public urban service, from the design
phase to building and operation, making Parque das Nações one of the largest urban redevelopment
projects in Europe. The Parque das Nações project comprised a variety of investments, including
public, PPP and private. The PPP investment project was designed by the Parque das Nações
42 Compendium of practices on innovative financing for SSC projects | January 2023
