Jan De Nul Consortium Contracted for Brugge-Knokke Highway

The new Brugge-Knokke Highway will establish a smooth link between Bruges-Zeebrugge Seaport and the Belgian hinterland. By separating the harbor traffic from the local traffic road safety and the quality of life in the region will be substantially improved.

The special purpose company Via A11 N.V. was awarded the DBFM (design build finance and manage) contract and began construction in April. Via A11 N.V. is a public-private partnership between the constortium Via Brugge which consists of Ondernemingen Jan De Nul Algemene Aannemingen Van Laere Franki Construct Aswebo Aclagro and DG Intra and Via-Invest. The EUR 786 million (about $1.1 billion) project is getting specific attention for its financing and the equity injected by private partner Via Brugge and public partner Via-Invest in combination with bond financing.

The project is one of the six major missing links in the Flemish road network and the largest road project up to now in Flanders. The highway is a 12-kilometer stretch of the truck road link A11 between the regional road N49 and the N31. The contract includes a 30-year maintenance period.

The private partner will be responsible for the building the financing and the long-term maintenance of the project. Completion on the project is expected in September 2017.