Cintra is awarded stretch 2 of the future M-45 motorway

Cintra is awarded stretch 2 of the future M-45 motorway The consortium formed by Cintra, the Ferrovial group firm established to tender and manage transport infrastructure concessions, and ACS was awarded the concession of stretch 2 of the future M-45 motorway. The project includes design, construction, conservation and operation of 14.5 Km between the ODonnell Axis and the N-IV and the investment foreseen is 22,887 million pesetas. The consortium has foreseen a construction term of 20 months, while management of the operation will be extended for 25 years. This is the second concession Cintra has obtained in Spain after its incorporation, following the recent award of the Artxanda Tunnel in Vizcaya, in addition to the thirteen concessions the Group participates in, that have been integrated in this new company, conceived as a vehicle for the tendering and management of the present and future transport concessions, both in Spain and abroad. The layout of stretch 2 starts at the future R-3 ring road, to the N-IV, north of Cerro de los Ángeles, and will cross the N-III at the level of Villa de Vallecas. The project includes construction of 14.5 kilometres of new motorway, with three lanes in each direction, execution of six junctions and the relevant service lanes, in addition to laying a drainage-type-rolling surface. The relevant concession system is the so-called "shadow toll", by which the Regional Government of Madrid will pay an amount to the concession holder according to the number of vehicles/km on the stretch awarded. Thus, the user will not have to pay any kind of toll to the awardee. The traffic foreseen on this stretch in the year 2000 - when the stretch is to be put into service - is estimated at 41,000 vehicles per day. Cintra, world-wide leader with fourteen concessions The M-45 motorway project is the second concession awarded to Cintra, in Spain, following its incorporation, after the recent award of the Artxanda Tunnel in Vizcaya, which is the fourteenth transport concession the firm has in the world. In Spain, it already holds stakes in Europistas, Eurovías, Autema, Autopista del Sol and, recently, in the Artxanda Tunnel; in Chile, in five stretches of the Route 5 motorway of the Pan-American Highway, the main communication axis in the country; and in Colombia, in another three toll motorways. These figures have consolidated it as one of the leading groups on the international tendering scene and management of transport concessions. This new contract reinforces, once more, the policy designed by the Group to centralise within Cintra, a company with the resources, experience and technical and economic capacity, for tendering and later management of the transport concession projects (motorways, parking lots, ports, airports, etc.) bid in Spain and abroad. In fact, Cintra takes advantage of the thirty years of experience in building and operation of motorways and the economic-financial potential of its parent companies, Grupo Ferrovial and Agromán. The total investment in this activity, at present, exceeds half a billion pesetas.