29 June 2020 The ASTM Group pre-qualified in the US for the “SR 400 Express Lane” PPP highway project in the state of Georgia
As part of its international growth plan, the ASTM Group has been pre-qualified in the United States for a project worth around USD 1.3 billion for the construction and operation of a highway stretch in the state of Georgia called “SR 400 Express Lane”, part of the road system around the city of Atlanta.
This was announced by the client, Georgia Department of Transportation. Of the five groups initially in the running, two other international consortia have been admitted in the final stage.
The project involves modernising the highway with the addition of two toll lanes for each direction of travel, for a distance of around 25 km. The initiative is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in which the Client pays an availability fee to build, maintain and operate the highway stretch for 35 years.
The ASTM has formed a joint venture with ACS and the BBGI fund.
The final stage of the tender was very selective, reward groups for their technical skills, expertise in managing Public-Private Partnership initiatives, as well as their financial capacity.
The American PPP project market is in constant growth and the Group is monitoring all important opportunities being put forward in the motorway infrastructure sector. As part of this plan, the Group also submitted a pre-qualification proposal for another PPP in the State of Maryland for the modernisation, construction and eventual operation of new additional toll lanes for an initial 60 km section of the Capital Beltway, a highway system which connects the city of Washington D.C.
ASTM has also pre-qualified for a Norwegian tender on a 25-year concession project to plan, build and manage a motorway stretch of approximately 10 km, which will involve building a 900 m long suspension bridge in the south of the country near the city of Bergen.
Additionally, through its jointly held subsidiary EcoRodovias, the Group is closely watching a new transport infrastructure sector privatisation programme, promoted by the Brazilian government to relaunch the country, which calls for around BRL 195 billion in investments between 2020 and 2023 in the motorway sector alone.