Statens Vegvesen, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, has announced the four consortiums in the running for the country’s largest transport project.
The $1.1bn Sotra Connection is a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme to build a link between Bergen and the island of Sotra.
It includes a 1km-long suspension bridge, 22 smaller bridges, a four-lane motorway and four double-bore tunnels with a total length of 11km. The winning team will finance, construct and operate the connection.
The teams that emerged from some 80 contractors, engineers and investors that showed an interest in the scheme in January are:
- French contractor Vinci with Spain’s Acciona and Implenia of Switzerland
- Iterina, the civil engineering subsidiary of Autostrada Torino-Milano, Italian toll road operator ASTM and Japanese engineer IHI Corporation
- FCC Construcción of Spain, Salini Impregilo of Italy, SK Engineering & Construction of Korea and Australian PPP funder Macquarie
- China Communications Construction Company, Sichuan Road and Bridge Corporation with Turkish civil engineer Gülermak.
Three of these consortiums will be chosen for further negotiations in April with a view to agreeing costs by the end of the year, with a preferred bidder to be named next summer.
Construction work is expected to start in autumn 2021 with completion scheduled by the end of 2025 at the latest.
Image: A view of Sotra island (Frode Inge Helland/CC BY-SA 2.5)
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