Skip to main content

Spain eyes new standard contract for long-term road development

Spain is looking to revamp its contractual formulae for large infrastructure work following moves to limit profits from long-term concession deals. The Ministry of Works is putting together a hybrid contract template for use with the Extraordinary Investment Plan for Roads. The previous government had tried to launch the investment plan on the back of around 20 concession contracts of over 20 years. The hybrid contract would aim to save road investments worth around €5 billion. It would be a mixed con
November 7, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Spain is looking to revamp its contractual formulae for large infrastructure work following moves to limit profits from long-term concession deals.


The Ministry of Works is putting together a hybrid contract template for use with the Extraordinary Investment Plan for Roads. The previous government had tried to launch the investment plan on the back of around 20 concession contracts of over 20 years.

The hybrid contract would aim to save road investments worth around €5 billion. It would be a mixed contract, with two years of construction and five years of concession including maintenance.

The Spanish concession sector has been in turmoil since lower-than-predicted traffic volumes forced several large concessionaires into bankruptcy. Earlier this year, the Spanish government calculated the cost of rescuing the nine bankrupt motorways at €1.8 billion. This is about 10% less than previously estimated, according to a report in the Spanish financial newspaper Expansión.

The government has been trying for the past several years to facilitate a deal with banks to get the motorways out of debt and so to not add to the state’s own debt.

In 2017,  the government agreed that the state-owned transport infrastructure firm Seittsa would manage the nine bankrupt motorways.

Related Content

  • Poland's ambitious highway construction plans
    July 10, 2012
    The European football championships are among a number of things pushing Poland's ambitious highway building programme. Patrick Smith reports. Poland is planning to spend a colossal €4.57 billion on road projects in 2009, a 35% increase over the previous year. T
  • All change: get ready to rethink everything
    November 10, 2022
    How can we make our infrastructure ready for new sustainability challenges? What kind of investments are needed? And who will finance them? Tolling association Asecap has some thoughts. Geoff Hadwick reports from Lisbon
  • Colombia eyes special project finance for the 4G road programme
    January 6, 2017
    Colombia's Ministry of Finance is evaluating the use of project finance arrangements to fund the government-backed 4G road development schemes. However, regulations will have to be put in place before such arrangements can be made, according to a report by the Colombian financial newspaper Portafolio. The 4G programme consists of 45 road projects divided into three waves of development under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme, with another category set up for private initiatives. The budge
  • A vision of roads
    September 3, 2012
    By 2040 European roads could be built differently, and hopefully be safer, according to the EU research programme NR2C