YIT and Meridiam consortium selected as preferred bidder for E18 Hamina-Vaalimaa motorway project
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A consortium formed by YIT and Meridiam Infrastructure Finance II S.à .r.l has been selected as the preferred bidder for the Hamina-Vaalimaa section of the E18 highway in Finland.
The team beat out competition form two other shortlisted bidders: a consortium composed by Destia-Lemminkäiseen Destia Oy, Lemminkäinen Infra Oy and 3i Investments PLC, and a team made up HOCHTIEF PPP Solutions GmpH, Graniittirakennus Kallio Oy and Kesälahden Maansiirto Oy.
The project has been granted a contract authorisation of approximately €660 million, which will form the basis for the agreement negotiations following the tender process with the Finnish Transport Agency. The aim is to sign the service agreement and to record the project in the order backlog in the summer of 2015. The construction work will start in autumn 2015, and the motorway is expected to be completed and open for traffic in 2018.
The E18 Hamina-Vaalimaa project comprises approximately 32 km of new motorway construction and other related road alterations. The project will include a 250-metre-long highway tunnel, 37 bridges and 7 km of noise dampening. Also included in the construction is a new waiting area for truck traffic in Vaalimaa. Additionally, the existing pedestrian and bicycle lanes will be improved and built parallel to the old highway.
The project involves the design, construction, finance and maintenance of the road during a period of 20 years.
The total project investment is estimated at €256 million (US$296.5 million).
The Finnish Transport Agency has applied the PPP model in two previous road projects: Kotka-Koskenkylä and the motorway Lohja, which are both parts of the E18 route. The road section between Järvenpää and Lahti on main road 4 has also been built using the PPP model.
During March we have reported about several road PPP projects globally:
