The new E39 opened to traffic on 30 June 2005, two months ahead of schedule.

This is the first of the three pilot Norwegian PPP road schemes released by the Vegdirektoratet, Norway’s state roads authority.

The project, the E39 between Klett and Bårdshaug, near Trondheim, is the main arterial road for the western part of Norway. Construction involved a new grade separated route of over 22 km, of which 10km is tunnels. The construction and operations partner in the consortium is Skanska Norge, one of the largest contracting companies in Norway.

In one of the quickest transactions yet seen in the European PPP market, Orkdalsvegen AS, a consortium formed by John Laing and Skanska ID successfully reached financial close on the E39 Klett-Bårdshaug DBFO project in April 2003.

John Laing and Skanska ID applied their extensive experience of infrastructure investments in other markets to optimise the commercial and financial structure of this project, with financial advisory support jointly provided by John Laing and Skanska, rather than externally sourced.

The procurement was completed in record time for a new PPP project, with a period of just over one year between prequalification and financial close. Revenue is paid based on availability to road users. Additional factors to be taken into consideration are operational quality and road safety.

The concession, which will run for 25 years after construction, is one of three PPP investments John Laing has in the Nordic region, the other two being the E4 Helsinki-Lahti and E18 Muurla-Lohja shadow toll roads in Finland.

For more information on the E39, please visit the Project Company´s web site at  http://www.orkdalsvegen.no/ and click on English Version.