More than 80 companies have so far shown an interest in bidding for Norway’s largest-ever transport contract, according to the country’s roads agency.
Some 130 representatives of contractors, engineers and investors from Australia, China, India, Italy, Japan, Spain and Sweden joined Norwegian firms at an information day held in Bergen last week.
They heard about the $1.1bn Sotra Connection, a public-private partnership scheme to build a 1km suspension bridge, 11km of road tunnels and associated infrastructure between Bergen and the island of Sostra.
Arve Tjønn Rinde, project manager with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, said: "We are very pleased to see that the project is attracting interest both from the Norwegian industry and from international parties. What remains to be seen is how many will submit an application for qualification."
The Norwegian Public Roads Administration commented in its press release that the project was "very challenging and demands a lot from tenderers in terms of financial capacity, experience with technically demanding structures and experience from similar projects". In particular, they will have to build alongside an existing road with "major congestion issues", without disrupting traffic.
The deadline for registering an interest in the scheme is 28 February. The roads administration will then enter into negotiations with three stakeholders before summer 2020 with a view to signing a contract in 2021.
Image: A view of Sostra island (Frode Inge Helland/CC BY-SA 2.5)
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