Lands contract as strategic partner for the next 50 years in the design and planning of the Trans-Texas Corridor, the largest toll road development in the US
The project represents a total investment of US$ 29,000 million US$ 36,700 million
The subsidiary of Ferrovial plans to directly develop five toll road projects in the corridor worth US$ 6,000 million under concession in the next five years
The 1,300 km multi-use corridor will include toll roads, railway lines and utilities (power, telecommunications, water, etc.)
This is one of four high priority corridors identified in Texas, which comprise 4,000 miles of infrastructure and will cost US$ 145,200 million US$ 183,500 million
This strengthens Ferrovial´s presence in the US; in addition to this project, it throught Cintra manages 17 other toll road concessions, located in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Chile, Canada and the US; it also manages over 200,000 parking spaces
Madrid, 16 December 2004. Cintra, a toll road and cark park management subsidiary of Ferrovial, has landed a 50-year contract to develop the TTC-35 High Priority Trans-Texas Corridor in the US.
This award makes Cintra a strategic partner of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in designing and planning the development of the largest infrastructure project ever in Texas. The plan represents a total investment of between US$ 29,000 million and US$ 36,700 million. Cintra heads (85% stake) the winning consortium, with partner Zachry, the second-largest construction company in Texas.
Acting as a strategic partner, over the next twelve months the consortium headed by Cintra will develop a Master Plan to define the infrastructures to be built in the corridor in the next 50 years and the optimal financing formulas or systems for each project.
Toll road concessions worth 6 billion dollars in the next five years
In the initial phase, Cintra has identified seven new concession projects that it plans to launch between 2005 and 2010 along 442 miles of the corridor at an investment of US$ 7,300 million.
Based on its preliminary analysis, Cintra will directly develop at least five of those projects (300 km, all toll roads), at an estimated cost of US$ 6,000 million, under a concession formula involving the design, construction, finance, maintenance and operation of the infrastructure.
The contract, to be signed in the next few days, gives the winning consortium a number of preferential rights to obtain these toll road concession projects directly (i.e. without a public tender).
The operation is important, stated Rafael del Pino, Chairman of Cintra and Ferrovial, because it strengthens our long-term presence in a priority market, namely the US, where we already have the Chicago Skyway, and it enhances our ability to compete in the most demanding markets.
The project also opens a new dimension for our company: not only will we participate as a State´s strategic partner in the design and planning of one of the multi-use corridors that is most vital for the economic development of the United States, but the contract also gives us preferential rights to obtain concession contracts that represent major investment, added Del Pino.
1,300 km of infrastructure
The Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC-35) is a multi-use transport corridor up to 1,200 feet (around 360 metres) wide and 800 miles (1,300 km) long, linking the Mexican border in the Lower Rio Grande (MacAllen) area with the Oklahoma border north of Dallas.
The corridor will include toll roads with separate lanes for light and heavy vehicles, plus freight and high-speed train lines, service roads and utility lines (gas, power, telecommunications, drinking and irrigation water, etc.).
The corridor route, which has yet to be finalised subject to economic and environmental studies, is broadly parallel to the existing Interstate 35 north of San Antonio and to the I-37 and SR-281 to the south of San Antonio; this corridor (particularly the I-35) is highly saturated, posing a serious impediment to the development of the Texan economy and the traffic of goods between Mexico and the US.
Interstate 35 is NAFTA´s main transportation artery, linking Mexico with the US and Canada; 80% of terrestrial transportation between Mexico and the United States and Canada crosses Texas, mostly along the corridor to which this contract refers.
The corridor is one of four identified as high priority in the state of Texas; together, the four represent 4,000 miles of infrastructure and will cost between US$ 145,200 million and US$ 183,500 million.
US and international rivals
The subsidiary of Ferrovial will set up offices in Austin, where it will work alongside the Texas Department of Transportation in designing and planning the corridor´s development. Future construction work in the corridor that is managed by Cintra will be executed by Ferrovial´s construction arm (Ferrovial Agromán) and Zachry on a 50:50 basis.
The Cintra-Zachry consortium is advised by engineering company Earth Tech, financial consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers and financier JP Morgan, among others.
The winning bid, which was drafted by over 120 people from 19 different companies (including equity partners, construction companies, engineering consultants and other advisors), was competing against two major international consortia headed by US companies: Fluor Enterprises + Parson Brinckerhoff and Hensel Phelps + Skanska.
Consolidating our foothold in North America, a priority market
This contract strengthens Ferrovial´s presence in the US, a priority market within the company´s expansion plans, where two months ago it subsidiary Cintra was awarded the Chicago Skyway project, the first operating toll road to be privatised in the US, at an investment of US$ 1,830 million.
In Texas, Cintra was also recently shortlisted for a 44 km toll road linking Dallas and Fort Worth, which represents an investment of US$ 1,065 million (825 million euros) in construction alone.
Elsewhere in North America, Cintra has been operating Toronto´s 407 Express Toll Route (407 ETR) for six years under a 99-year concession. The project, which represents an investment of 2.4 billion euros, was Canada´s largest-ever privatisation and also the largest-ever investment by a Spanish group in the toll road business.
Cintra, one of the world´s largest private-sector transport infrastructure developers
Cintra bids for and manages toll roads in Spain and other countries, and it is one of the world´s largest private-sector road infrastructure developers, with close to 2,000 million euros of committed investment in concession companies.
In addition to the Texas project, Cintra manages 17 toll road concessions (over 1,600 kilometres) in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Chile, the US and Canada.
Cintra manages over 200,000 parking spaces in 125 cities in Spain, Andorra and Puerto Rico. It operates in all segments of this industry: off-street car park development and operation; parking meters and on-street car park management; and development and sale of private car parks, as well as the provision of a number of additional services, such as supply and maintenance of control equipment.
