The first project in the Irish National Road Authority’s PPP Programme, the N4/N6 Kinnegad-Kilcock Motorway (KK), reached commercial and financial close on Monday 24 March.
This is the first of nine PPP (Public Private Partnership) projects planned by the Irish National Roads Authority (NRA) to deliver the national roads element of the National Development Plan. The estimated cost of the project is E300 million, and will be funded by the European Investment Bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. and Banco Santander Central Hispano, S.A, as well as equity from the sponsors and a contribution from the Irish Government totalling €170 million.
The 30-year concession to design, build, finance and operate the motorway was awarded to EuroLink (which is made up of Spain’s Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte SA and Irish company SIAC Infrastructure Fund Limited). The planned motorway is 39 kilometres in length and will be a tolled route.
McCann FitzGerald and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised the NRA on the transaction and will continue to advise the NRA on the remaining eight roads of the PPP Road Programme. Another three projects are scheduled to achieve financial close in 2003.
In February, the second Irish PPP deal worth €51.3 million was closed. |
