Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch  Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, has plans to award the N18 Groenlo-Enschede highway PPP project in April.

The Noaber18 consortium comprising VolkerInfra, a subsidiary of VolkerWessels, and DIF, the independent Dutch fund manager who invests in infrastructure, has been provisionally appointed as the preferred bidder for the PPP project.

Financial close for the project is expected in June 2016. The road is expected to be operational by 2018.

The PPP project involves the development of a 44 km highway with a 2+1 stretch between  Groenlo - Haaksbergen, which has a length of 20 km, and a 2+2 stretch between  Haaksbergen - Enschede, which has a length of 7.2 km.

The road will bypass around Eibergen, Haaksbergen and Usselo. The project includes, among others, the construction of 10 overpasses, 6 cycling tunnels, bike paths and access roads.

The project will be developed on a design, build, finance, operation and maintenance (DBFOM) basis. The operation and maintenance (O&M) period will be 25 years.

The new highway is part of the N18 Varsseveld - Enschede road. This road is expected to benefit regional accessibility and thus also economic development.

Operis provided financial modeling and financial advisory services to the Noaber18 consortium.

Patrick van der Meer, contract manager at Rijkswaterstaat, said:

"During the procurement, we have adopted an open and constructive approach to the market as much as possible insight into the characteristics of the project. The aim was to help market participants to make the best offer. I believe that we have succeeded and we will have shown how we can apply the Market vision into practice. "