Two companies – the Ukrainian Transport Highways consortium and the Bouygues company (France) – have applied to participate in a tender for construction of the Lviv-Krakovets concession road. Infrastructure Minister Andrii Pyvovarskyi announced this on its Facebook page.
"The commission’s meeting at which concession applications for participation in the tender for construction of the Lviv-Krakovets highway has just ended. We have two participants – the Ukrainian Transport Highways consortium and the French company Bouygues. We are waiting for bids from applicants until September 7, followed by a long process of discussions and assessments in accordance with the terms of the tender. If all goes well, will announce the winner in January 2016," Pyvovarskyi wrote.
As reported earlier, the head of the Ministry of Infrastructure’s department of strategic development of the road market and trucking, Roman Khmil, said in a recent interview with the CFTS that eight companies were interested in the tender for construction of the Lviv-Krakovets highway.
Announcement of the tender for construction of the 84-kilometer Lvilv-Krakovets highway was published in the Uriadovyi Kurier official government newspaper on May 25. It will be the first concession project in the road sector in Ukraine.
The State Automobile Road Service (Ukravtodor) has predicted that construction of the road will take up to five years. According to Ukravtodor, a private investor will provide 100% of the funds for financing the construction of this highway and the concession will be for up to 49 years. The concessionaire will be responsible for construction, maintenance, and repair of the road. According to Ukravtodor, a category 1-A highway is planned for construction. The highway will have four lanes and have an estimated speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour.
Bouygues is a major construction company founded in 1952. Bouygues floated on the Paris stock exchange in 1970. The projects implemented by the company include the tunnel under the English Channel, the Charles de Gaulle airport’s terminal 2, motorways, and others. The group also controls the Bouygues Telecom telecommunications company, and it is the largest shareholder (31%) of the Alstom engineering company.
The company has been operating in Russia since 1989. Its projects in Russia include the reconstruction of the main building of Moscow State University in Moscow, the Hyatt hotel building in Yekaterinburg, and others.
A memorandum on investment cooperation between the State Road Service of Ukraine and the French company Bouygues Travaux Publics was signed in Paris in June 2005. The company was expected to build concession roads.
At that time, the company received an investment proposal worth EUR 7 billion. Under the agreement that was signed, the French company was to finance projects involving construction of highways in Ukraine, perform the actual construction work, as well as manage and operate the highways, charging toll fees.
The French company was supposed to participate in the construction of the highways Lviv-Krakovets and Kiev-Vinnitsa-Western Ukraine-Hungarian border. There was also talk of construction of a branch from the Kiev-Odessa highway to Nikolayev and a section of the Moscow-Simferopol highway.
