STRABAG: Official contract start of A49 PPP motorway project in Hesse

• Design-build-finance-operate-maintain contract for A49 motorway between Fritzlar and Ohmtal interchange (62 km)

• Construction of new motorway section by STRABAG Großprojekte GmbH and LEONHARD WEISS GmbH & Co. KG to close the gap between Schwalmstadt and the Ohmtal interchange

• Planned construction contract value of over € 700 million

​European-based construction technology group STRABAG SE, through its subsidiary STRABAG Infrastrukturprojekt GmbH, has been awarded the contract for a large motorway project in Germany under a public-private partnership (PPP) model. Besides the construction of a 31 km long section of the A49 motorway between Schwalmstadt and the Ohmtal interchange in northern and central Hesse, the PPP project also includes the design and proportionate financing as well as the maintenance and operation of the motorway over a distance of nearly 62 km between the Fritzlar junction and the Ohmtal A5/A49 interchange. The client is the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the State of Hesse, represented by DEGES (Deutsche Einheit Fernstraßenplanungs- und -bau GmbH). The project company A 49 Autobahngesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, specifically established for this purpose, is held equally (50:50) between STRABAG Infrastrukturprojekt GmbH and Meridiam Investments SAS. The PPP contract has a term of 30 years starting from 1 September 2020.

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KfW IPEX-Bank (Germany), the European Investment Bank (EIB), MEAG (Germany) and ČSOB (Czech Republic, part of the Belgian KBC Group) were brought on board to provide debt financing for the total investment sum of around € 1.3 billion.

STRABAG Großprojekte GmbH, working in a joint venture with LEONHARD WEISS GmbH & Co. KG, is handling the construction of the approx. 31 km section of the A49 starting at Schwalmstadt, which will also close the gap with the A5.

“We are pleased about the renewed trust in our ability to successfully realise large infrastructure projects in public-private partnerships, something we are already demonstrating in Germany with the A8 and A5 motorways,” says Thomas Birtel, CEO of STRABAG SE.

The A49 between Fritzlar and the Ohmtal interchange is divided into four sections. The first section to the Neuental junction is already open to traffic. The second section to the Schwalmstadt junction is currently under construction by HessenMobil. Realisation of the new sections three and four, from Schwalmstadt over the Stadtallendorf-Nord junction to the Ohmtal interchange, should begin in September 2020. The contract for joint venture partners STRABAG and LEONHARD WEISS includes the four-lane gap closure in concrete and the adaptation of the A5 along an approx. 1.5 km section at the Ohmtal intersection including the entire infrastructure in the area. The main construction works are scheduled for completion in autumn 2024.