A Vinci-Meridiam consortium has been named preferred bidder to deliver the Germany’s A7 Salzgitter-Gottingen motorway upgrade project.

Vinci and Meridiam beat out competition from a consortium including Dutch fund manager DIF, Hochtief PPP Solutions and Johann Bunte.

The A7 Salzgitter-Gottingen motorway, also known as the A7 II, will involve the DBFOM of an expansion to a 70km stretch of road between Salzgitter (A39) and Drammetal (A38) which will see a third lane added in each direction.

The contract envisages the preservation and operation of the federal motorway A7 between Bockenem (km 207 + 834) and Göttingen (km 267 + 750), which will be carried out by a private contractor in the framework of a public private partnership (PPP).

This includes the six-lane expansion of the four-lane section between the Seesen (km 221 + 000) and Nörten-Hardenberg (km 250 + 170). The length of the entire section therefore amounts to approximately 60 km, while the extension section is around 29 km.

Both the Vinci and the DIF consortia had also been vying for Germany’s €600 million A6 motorway PPP.