Peru's private investment promotion agency ProInversion said that a group formed by Spain's Sacyr Concesiones and Peruvian contractor Constructora Málaga Hnos. S.A. won the right to partner with Peru on upgrading an Andean highway, the Longitudinal de la Sierra highway concession (Section 2).

The project, which will have an investment of US$550 million, will help connect the northern coastal region La Libertad with the department of Cajamarca in the Andes. It will consist of the upgrade, operation and maintenance of the the existing road.

The project has an approximate length of 870 Km and a concession period of 25 years.

There were a total of eight bidding teams. The firms forming those teams were not identified.

This will be the first road concession of Sacyr Concesiones in Peru. The firm is the market leader in Chile where it have five road concessions.

The Longitudinal de la Sierra will connect the Andean regions from Puno, passing through Cusco, Apurimac, Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Junin, Pasco, Huanuco, Ancash, La Libertad, Cajamarca all the way to the highlands of Piura.

It is a route totalling 3,500 kilometers, whose route now includes 2,000 kilometers of paved roadway and 1,500 kilometers of dirt roads. The government's idea is basically to pave the 1,500 kilometers of dirt roads.