Local companies and specialised companies could join the project
Ferrovial and Caja General de Ahorros de Granada have signed an agreement to present a joint bid to build, finance and operate the Granada Light Rail project.
Ferrovial will lead the consortium with a 75% stake and the Granada thrift will own the other 25%. Both parties have stated that they will discuss the possibility of bringing local companies and operators specialised in this type of infrastructure into the project provided that, as the agreement states, the combined stakes of Ferrovial and Caja de Granada is never less than 51%.
The Granada Light Rail, a project promoted by the Andalucía Regional Government, will cost close to 200 million euros and the concession period is expected to be 25-30 years. The network, measuring about 20 km, will link Granada city with the outlying towns, the industrial zone and the Health Campus, attaining an average speed of 30 km/hour. The public tender for the project could be held before the end of 2002 and, based on a standard schedule for this type of infrastructure, Granada Light Rail will foreseeably be in service in 2006.
Leading infrastructure developer
Ferrovial is the world´s leading developer of transport infrastructure, with 1.5 billion euros in committed investment. Ferrovial manages concessions in Spain, Portugal, the UK, Chile, Mexico and Canada; the 407 express toll route in Toronto is the largest foreign investment in concessions to be headed by a Spanish construction group.
In Andalucía, Ferrovial is the principal private sector investor in transport infrastructure: it heads the Costa del Sol toll road concession between Málaga and Estepona (total investment: over 450 million euros) and is currently completing work on the extension of that road between Estepona and Guadiaro. It also manages numerous off-street and on-street parking systems and is a partner in parking management joint venture with the city governments of Sevilla and Málaga.
