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The State Company Russian Highways, Avtodor, has announced plans to launch a tender process for the M-11 Moscow – St. Petersburg (section 58th km – 97th km and 97th km - 149th) highway PPP project. 

The revised version of tender documents was released on the website of State Company “Avtodor” on December 24, 2015. Avtodor plans to announce the start of the tender process on 26 January 2016.

The project includes construction of the two sections of the M-11 highway “Moscow – St. Petersburg”. It will go through the territories of the Moscow and the Tver regions. 

The highway will have four lanes through its entire distance and a total of seven junctions have to be built. The project will also involve the development of a 4.5 km long access road to the town of Klin. In total, 49 artificial structures will be built at this section, including a 322 m long bridge.

The preferred bidder will have to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the new road for a period of 23 years.

The total project investment is estimated at RUB73.9 billion (US$966.7 million). According to Avtodor:

The maximum amount payable to the contractor under the agreement on the part of the State Company for the purposes of ensuring proper highway operation shall not exceed 18.7 billion rubles, and the amount of investments of the contractor in the project will amount to 7.392 billion rubles and will not be subject to reduction in the course of the tender.

It is expected that the project will be developed during the 2016 - 2018 period. 

The Moscow-St Petersburg motorway is a strategically important federal investment project to develop Russia's transport infrastructure. The modern high-speed road is planned as a major route linking the two largest cities in Russia.

In July 2015, we reported that Two Capitals Highway LLC, the concessionaire comprising Vinci Concessions and VTB Group, closed financing and finalized the construction contract for sections 7 and 8 of the Moscow-Saint Petersburg motorway in Russia.