The Geo Consortium consortium has been selected as preferred bidder to develop the Ravenhall Prison PPP project at Deer Park in Melbourne, Australia.

The Geo Consortium team is formed by: GEO Group Australia, John Holland, Honeywell and Capella Capital. The consortium beat out competition form Secure Pathways, which was formed by John Laing Investments, Serco Australia, Baulderstone and Macquarie Capital Group.

The project involves the design, construction, finance, operation and maintenance of the prison for a period of 25 years. The Ravenhall prison will expanded to accommodate 1000 medium security male prisoners. The project also involves the design, construction, finance and maintenance of a Statewide Services Building.

The project has an estimated investment of A$670 million.

Marcelino Fernández Verdes, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of  Leighton Holdings , owner of John Holland, stated:

This award is one more example of the opportunities that are expected in the Australian engineering construction market during the next five years, driven by population growth, increased government funding and greater private sector financing. We are already seeing evidence of the impact of these growth drivers, with the Leighton Group's 12 month tender pipeline now significantly larger than the equivalent pipeline six months ago.

John Holland Managing Director Glenn Palin said John Holland was committed to constructing infrastructure that would benefit society. Mr Palin commented:

Ravenhall is a major milestone in the Government's commitment to build a safer Victoria by increasing the capacity and amenity of Victoria's prison system. John Holland has long been responsible for constructing social infrastructure, from prisons to hospitals to schools.

Construction is scheduled to commence in early 2015 and is scheduled for completion in late 2017.

In the 2013-14 Victorian State Budget, the government announced more than A$131.5 million in funding for 357 extra prison beds and a major expansion of Victoria's high-security prison facilities. This is in addition to the A$670 million announced in last year's budget for the Ravenhall prison and an additional 395 beds at existing prisons.