The European Union will support with an amount of €2.4 million from the TEN-T Programme a series of studies aiming at preparing a section of motorway along Finland's southeast coast for a possible public-private partnership (PPP) procurement. The studies will contribute to the realisation of the "Nordic Triangle railway/road axis" (TEN-T Priority Project 12).

The objective of the action is to prepare the procurement of the E18 Hamina-Vaalimaa section, through a PPP model (DBFMO - Design, Build, Finance, Maintain and Operate). This section is part of the Nordic Triangle and it will remove a bottleneck of one of the most important highway connections between the EU and Russia. The expected investment volume of the global project, a 32km highway section, is €265 million. The Finnish government has decided in favour of PPP procurement in order to accelerate the realisation of the project in light of limited budgetary resources and the significant increase in traffic.

Results of the studies will help to accelerate the realisation of this project and the subsequent works will eliminate a key bottleneck on the Finnish road network and improve road safety.

Furthermore, it includes the definition of output requirements for the DBFMO contract and the preparation of the tendering process. A well-prepared PPP procurement can attract the interest of international investors, an important consideration in the relatively small Finnish market.

The initiative will be monitored by the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency (TEN-T EA) and is set to be completed by the end of June 2014.