Group Five wins share of another major concession project in Europe

Group Five has announced that its Infrastructure Concessions business, Intertoll, is part of a consortium that has today reached Financial Close on the €1.1 billion Phase 2 section of the A1 Motorway Project in Poland. Intertoll holds 15% of the concession company, GTC, and will undertake the toll collection and operations and maintenance activities for this project as well as the supply of the toll collection and motorway management equipment.

The 90 km Phase 1 section of the A1 Motorway from Gdansk to Nowe Marzy was opened to traffic by GTC last October three months ahead of schedule and Phase 2 will link the cities of Gdansk and Torun completing this section of the north south link from the Baltic to the Mediterranean.

Revenue will start flowing through to Intertoll from the beginning of calendar year 2010, with full scale operations commencing in 2012. Intertoll’s partners on the project are Skanska (Sweden) John Laing Infrastructure (United Kingdom) and NDI (Poland). The 62 km dual carriageway project includes the construction and maintenance of two major bridges over the Vistula river one of which is over 2 km long.

The Project is being funded by the European Investment Bank (EIB) Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK) and shareholder funds.

Intertoll is part of Group Five Infrastructure Developments and offers toll system design, procurement, implementation and operation, together with related services such as full motorway operation and maintenance. The business currently has equity interests in two other service concessions in Eastern Europe and operates toll roads in South Africa.

“Negotiations on Phase 2 of the A1 Motorway Project started soon after Financial Close of Phase 1 in September 2005 but were suspended following the change in government in Poland later that year. The current government is pursuing an aggressive policy of expanding motorway infrastructure which is badly needed for Poland to realise its true economic potential and, through Intertoll, Group Five hope to continue to be in a position to secure further projects in the country in the coming years”  said the head of Group Five Infrastructure Developments Eric Vemer. “We are extremely pleased about securing yet another major concession project in Europe which reinforces Intertoll’s position in Poland and adds to our growing profile in Eastern Europe.”