Minister Luhtanen pleased with the proceeding of the Muurla-Lohja road project

Ms Leena Luhtanen, Minister of Transport and Communications of Finland, is delighted that a prompt decision was reached in the invitation to tender for the final section of the motorway construction between Turku and Helsinki. The Finnish Road Administration made the decision on 15 June.

- This schedule enables to start the road construction work already this year. The project will be completed in 2008, i.e. a year earlier than planned. This is possible because the project will be carried out using the public private partnership model, PPP - or life cycle model as it is also called -, which thus provides an example of its advantages, Luhtanen said.

The motorway project E18 between Muurla and Lohja will be carried out as a long-term PPP contract between the public and private sectors. The work is meant to be started already this autumn.

Luhtanen says that the PPP model should be utilised in order to be able to launch road and rail projects that are necessary for the development of the national economy and regions. It is a way to make long-term transport infrastructure investments and carry out projects quickly and efficiently. This means lower costs for the state.

Minister Luhtanen intends to take up the application of the PPP model to other transport projects in the Government budget session. Possible future projects could be the main road 6 and the Lahti-Luumäki railway.

The competitive bidding organised by the Road Administration was won by a consortium formed by Skanska BOT AB from Sweden, Laing Roads Ltd from England and Lemminkäinen Oyj from Finland. The Road Administration has launched negotiations with the bidder that aim at a service contract.