Moscow St. Petersburg Toll Road - Section 1

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The project consisted of 30 years DBFOT for the first section of the Moscow-St. Petersburg Highway. The first section had 42 kms which run from kilometer 15 to kilometer 58. The new toll road would provide high-speed access to Sheremetievo International Airport and to Khimki, Dolgoprudny and Zelenograd. It will de-bottleneck the existing section of M-10 "Russia" highway going through the city of Khimki. The road would start at the existing Businovo traffic interchange at the MKAD (Moscow Ring Road). The Russian Ministry of Transport selected Northwest Concession Company as preferred bidder for this project via a international competitive tender in November 2008. Northwest Concession Company was owned by Vinci and Ntrans, one of the major Russian private transport companies. The BOT agreement to finance, build and operate (BOT) the first section of the Moscow-St Petersburg route was signed by the Russian Federal Road Agency and Vinci Concessions on July 27, 2009. However, the ownership of Northwest Concession Company changed at financial closure. The state-owned Vnesheconombank agreed to participate in the financing of the project in exchange of taking up to 70% of North West Concession Company shares, effectively replacing the existing local partners, and getting a high level of control over the project. As the result the project company was 70% state-owned and 30% privately owned. The project cost was estimated at RUB60 billion(US$1975 million) and the project reached financial closure in April 2010. Funding came from a RUB29.3 billion (US$961 million) loan from state-owned Vnesheconombank (VEB) and state-owned Sberbank, US$342 million of government-guaranteed, inflation-linked, bonds, and the remaining from equity contribution. VEB agreed to participate in the financing as long as it took a large equity participation and high control of the project. In Septermber 2011, AECOM, won a US$23 million EPC contract for the project The project is a greenfield, although it begins at an existing intersection, the old section of the M 10 will be used as an alternative, free route.