NIB-financed motorway section opened

The final part of the E18 motorway between Helsinki and Turku in south-western Finland was officially opened on 16 March.

The 51-kilometre stretch of road came into use in early 2009. Now the entire road between Helsinki and Turku is a four-lane dual carriageway. The E18 is Finland’s busiest road in an east-west direction and the most important route for international traffic in the country.

NIB participated in funding the road construction project with a long-term loan of EUR 77 million to the special-purpose road building company, Tieyhtiö Ykköstie Oy. The total cost of the construction project amounted to some EUR 300 million.

The project was the largest of its kind in Finland, but took only three years to conclude. All in all it has taken over 50 years to complete the 160-kilometre motorway between Helsinki and Turku. Earlier constructions of the road has been publicly funded by public resources.

Life-cycle model leads to short construction time

The stretch of motorway was implemented as a life-cycle project. In other words, the public and private sectors worked together within the framework of a long-term agreement. The life-cycle model is based on the principle that the state purchases the construction work as well as the maintenance and financing of the road from a private contractor.

For this project, the Finnish Road Administration (Finnra) purchased planning, construction and financing from Tieyhtiö Ykköstie Oy. Ykköstie is responsible for the service quality of the road and for the maintenance up until 2029, when Finnra takes over the road.

Other financiers of the road construction included the European Investment Bank, Nordea Finland Abp, Svenska Handelsbanken AB and the Royal Bank of Scotland.