Cintra selected as provisional
contractor
to build and operate its second toll road in Greece
February 5, 2007
The project will cost an estimated 1.5
billion euro
The 231
km Central Greece Motorway E-65 includes a segment running
north-west/south-east through central Greece and a segment of the
Patra-Athens-Thessaloniki (PATHE) toll road.
The road
concession runs for 30 years. The consortium is short-listed for a
third project and has bid for a fourth concession; together, those
two projects represent a total investment of close to 3 billion
euro.
Madrid, 5
February 2007. Cintra, a toll-road and
car-park company, has been selected by the Greek Government as
provisional contractor to build, finance, operate, maintain and
exploit the Central Greece Motorway (E65). The project is estimated
to cost about 1.5 billion euro and the concession will run for 30
years.
This will
be Cintra's second toll road in Greece,
where it has already bid for a third project and is short-listed for
a fourth (those two projects represent a projected investment of
close to 3 billion euro).
In this
project, Cintra is the leader (33.34%)
of a consortium with ACS and Greek construction company GEK (33.33%
each); Cintra will nominate the
concession company's General Manager.
The road
measures 231 km in total and comprises two sections:
-
the
Central Greece segment, to built entirely by the consortium,
measures 174 km and runs north-west/south-east through central
Greece, connecting the city of Egnatia to the PATHE (Patra-Athens-Thessaloniki)
toll road.
-
the
other segment, which measures 57 km., will be built by the Greek
government and transferred to the concession company
The
newly-built road will come into service in approximately 66 months.
The road is expected to become operational by the end of 2009, when
part of the road to be built by the Government will be transferred
to the concession company. The final award and signature of the
concession contract are subject to government approval of all the
documentation as well as ratification by the Greek parliament. The
European Commission must also approve the subsidy for the project.
Second toll road in Greece
Cintra obtained its first toll road in
Greece in 2006 when it was selected to manage the Ionian Roads
project under a 30-year concession; that project represents an
investment of over 1 billion euro. Both projects are part of the
toll road plan implemented by Greece's Ministry of National Economy
(MONE) and the Ministry of the Environment, Planning and Public
Works (MEPPPW) to promote the construction and improvement of
strategic sections of the national road network, with private-sector
participation in design, construction, financing and operation.
The Toll
Road Programme includes concessions for six toll roads, in two
batches, that represent a total investment of 8 billion euro.
Companies may only bid for four projects at most.
Two new projects for an investment of 3
billion euro
The
consortium of which Cintra is a member
has also bid for the concession to build and operate the 360 km CSB
Corinth-Patra-Pirgos-Tsakona road, of which 297 km are to be newly
built, and it is short-listed for the Attica Urban Roads concession,
involving the construction and operation of 47 km (36 km of new
construction), which is expected to be decided in 2007. The two
projects together represent capital expenditure of close to 3
billion euro.
Cintra, one of the world's largest
private-sector transport infrastructure developers
Cintra, a subsidiary of
Grupo Ferrovial, is one of the world's
leading private-sector developers of transport infrastructure, with
over 15 billion euro in managed investments. With this new project,
Cintra has a stake in a total of 20
toll road concessions in Spain (7), Ireland (1), Greece (2),
Portugal (2), Chile (5), Canada (1) and the USA (2). It currently
has three projects pending final award, in Italy, Ireland and the
USA, and it is waiting for Ferrovial Infraestructuras to transfer
the Azores (Portugal) toll road concession.
Cintra is also Spain's leading car park operator and manages
over 250, 000 parking spaces.
|