This article is part of a daily series of MegaProjects articles. If you want to know more about PPP projects with a considerable size visit our MegaProjects section. You can receive them by email on a daily basis.

Spanish toll roads and infrastructure operator Abertis has closed with the government of Argentina two agreements to extend the concession contracts of both subsidiaries in the country, Autopista del Sol (Ausol) and Grupo Concesionario del Oeste (GCO), in exchange for a global investment plan of a total amount of around US$680 million.

Under the agreement reached, Abertis will carry out an investment plan to improve the current road network for a total amount of around $430 million in the Ausol network and of around $250 million in the GCO's.

In summer 2017, Ausol and GCO signed respective MoUs that formally initiate the process to extend the concession contract for an additional 10 years.

Abertis owns a 48.6%-stake (57.6% of voting rights) of GCO, the concessionaire in charge of the construction, maintenance, administration and exploitation of the western access to the city of Buenos Aires. 56-kilometers long, it is one of the busiest road corridors in Argentina with an Average Daily Traffic (ADT) of 78.744 vehicles in 2016.

Autosol is owned by Abertis (31.59%), Salini Impregilo (19.82%), Natal Inversiones (14.12%), ACS (2.68%), and another local firm, Dycasa (1.75%), which has the support and experience of Dragados. The remaining 30.04% comprises freely floating shares. Ausol is in charge of the northern access to the city of Buenos Aires, a 95-kilometers long corridor, which connects the city with the highly populated northern neighborhoods. It also has the concession of General Paz highway, a toll-free section of 24 km-road that surrounds the capital.

These investments will be financed with the future income of the concession, thanks to the extension of the duration of the current contracts until 2030.