VINCI HIGHWAYS
VINCI Highways designs, builds, finances and operates more than 4,000 km of motorways, bridges, tunnels and urban roads in 16 countries, applying the highest global standards of safety and service quality. VINCI Highways also develops and manages free-flow solutions in Europe and the United States.
By winning the PPP contract for the future B247 federal road, VINCI Highways is bolstering its position as the leading private motorway concession operator in Germany.
Development
CZECH REPUBLIC
After being designated preferred bidder in December 2020, VINCI Highways completed financing in April 2021 for the first motorway public-private partnership (PPP) contract in the Czech Republic, thereby effectively launching the project. The 28-year contract represents an investment of around €600 million. The 50/50 consortium set up by VINCI Highways (lead) and Meridiam will build a new 32 km section to complete the D4 motorway between Příbram and Písek, while also transforming 16 km of existing infrastructure into a two-lane dual carriageway. The new motorway will improve road connection between rural South Bohemia and Prague. The works, carried out by VINCI Construction’s Czech subsidiary, should be complete by the end of 2024. Executed in full using BIM (Building Information Modelling) – a first in the country for the road construction sector –, the project meets the highest environmental standards. It provides for reusing 1.9 million cu. metres of excavated materials and recycling up to 60% of the total volume of asphalt mix, together with construction of stormwater retention ponds and wildlife crossings.
— VINCI Highways has also managed the PR1BINA expressway, on the part of the road network bordering Slovakia, since the early 2010s.
GERMANY
In July 2021, VINCI Highways was awarded the contract for the B247, the first federal road to be delivered under a PPP in Germany. The 22 km road between the cities of Mühlhausen and Bad Langensalza will improve mobility in the north of Thuringia by facilitating access to the regional motorway network.
The 30-year contract represents a total investment of around €500 million, including €350 million for the construction phase. Financial closing for the project was done in a record two months, making it possible to schedule the project launch at the start of 2022. Works will last for around four years and will be carried out by VINCI Construction’s German subsidiaries, which will recycle up to 30% of asphalt mix and 100% of concrete from the existing section. The contract includes construction of 6 km of access roads and features an availability payment mechanism, as opposed to a revenue-risk system.
— With this contract, VINCI Highways bolsters its positions in Germany, where it is already the leading private motorway concession operator, covering a network of 212 km of motorways under four public-private partnerships (A4, A5, A9, A7-2).
GREECE
Through Olympia Odos, VINCI Highways holds the concession for the Athens–Corinth–Patras motorway (201 km). In 2021, it signed an agreement with the Greek authorities to extend the infrastructure with a new 75 km section to Pyrgos, in the west of the Peloponnese peninsula. The new section will be integrated into the existing concession, which will be extended until 2044. The €331 million investment is financed by a €217 million public contribution from the Greek state, the remainder being covered by a bank loan. In this context, Olympia Odos has