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President of Costa Rica inaugurates the toll road between San José and Caldera, to be managed by Globalvia and Sacyr Concesiones

28-01-2010

• The road opened 5 months ahead of schedule
• Investment totalled 360 million dollars

Oscar Arias, President of Costa Rica, yesterday inaugurated the 77-km Autopista del Sol toll road, which connects San José and Caldera; the road was built by Sacyr and FCC and represents an investment of 360 million dollars.

The new road, which came into service five months ahead of schedule, is the first of a set of strategic projects that the Costa Rica government is implementing in the form of concessions. Autopista del Sol will be operated as a direct toll road for 23 years by Sacyr Concesiones, the infrastructure subsidiary of the Sacyr Vallehermoso group, and Globalvia Infraestructuras, a 50:50 joint venture of FCC and Caja Madrid.

The road widening, upgrading and construction project was designed to provide faster, safer and more efficient communications between the city of San José and the Pacific coast, including the city of Puntarenas, the port of Caldera and all the tourist towns along the Costanera Sur highway, while also providing a connection with the central, southern and northern regions.

The new road forms part of a road network that includes other major arteries such as the Costanera Sur highway, the Interamericana Sur highway and the San José- San Ramón (which is the second concession project tendered by the Costa Rica government).

This 77-km toll road greatly reduces travel times. The travel time using the new road is estimated at 70 minutes, i.e. 45 minutes less than the approximately 2 hours it currently takes to reach Caldera.

Autopista del Sol consists of three separate sections:

• Section I (14 km) between San José and Ciudad Colón, where the work involved upgrading and improving an existing 4-lane highway.
• Section II: 40 km of newly-built dual carriageway between Ciudad Colón and Orotina.
• Section III: 23.8 kilometres of road that were resurfaced between Orotina and Caldera.

Sacyr Concesiones encompasses the Sacyr Vallehermoso group's infrastructure concessions; it has 29 assets in six countries (Spain, Portugal, Chile, Costa Rica, Italy and Ireland) that are under construction or in the ramp-up phase. It has a diversified business portfolio: 11 direct toll roads and 8 shadow toll roads (totalling 1,410 km), 2 transport hubs, 5 hospitals, one airport, one underground railway line and one service area company.

Globalvia is the world's second-largest transport infrastructure operator, according to the annual ranking published by Public Works Financing (PWF) magazine. It has offices in Spain, Mexico, Ireland, Chile and the USA (Miami and New York). It has a portfolio of 41 projects, including: toll roads, railways, marinas, industrial ports and airports.