Brisa group wins Spain-Portugal the bid
A consortium led by Portuguese motorway company Brisa has won the bid for the construction of the first section of bullet train lines between Lisbon and Madrid, the Portuguese government announced Saturday.
The consortium, which includes Spanish group Iridium, bid to construct the 167-kilometre (104-mile) link in Portugal for 1.36 billion euros (1.98 billion dollars) with annual maintenance at 12.2 million euros, it said.
It will have the concession for 40 years.
“The high speed train is going to be a reality because we want to build a modern country,” Prime Minister Jose Socrate said at a ceremony at Evora, about 130 kilometres east of Lisbon.
The losing consortium was led by Portugal’s Mota-Engil and included the French BTP group’s Vinci.
The bullet train will make it possible to travel between the Spanish and Portuguese capitals in under three hours. Construction is expected to begin at the end of 2010 with the line due to open in 2013.
The high-speed links are expected to cost Portugal 7.5 billion euros (11 billion dollars), including 2.4 billion euros for the Lisbon-Madrid track.
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