06/03/2015

  • Sacyr Concesiones won the freeway concession with an investment of €850 million
  • Valoriza Agua has built and manages the Perth desalination plant with capacity to produce 100 Hm3 of drinking water per year

Sacyr 's projects involving the Américo Vespucio Oriente freeway, of Sacyr Concesiones, in Santiago de Chile (Chile) and the Perth desalination plant (Australia) have been ranked by the audit and advisory services firm KPMG among the world's 100 most innovative infrastructure projects in its report Infrastructure 100: World Markets Report.

The report was compiled by a panel of independent industry experts who assessed a total of 400 major projects based on five criteria: scale in relation to comparable projects, feasibility, complexity, innovation and impact on society. The 100 projects have a combined budget of US$1.7 trillion and, in the words of KPMG, demonstrate "how governments are coming together with the private sector to overcome funding constraints".

AVO (Chile)

One year ago, Sacyr Concesiones won in consortium a contract for the construction and operation of the Américo Vespucio Oriente (AVO) urban freeway in Santiago de Chile, budgeted at €850 million (US$970 million). 

The project consists of the construction and operation of this 9.3 km urban freeway, which will have three lanes on each side along most of its length. The freeway passes through five communities (La Reina, Las Condes, Vitacura, Recoleta and Huechuraba). Highlights of the works include a tunnel under Cerro San Cristóbal hill and the Mapocho River, improvement of existing surface roads in La Pirámide; and two underground carriageways from the south of Puente Centenario through to Príncipe de Gales. 

This freeway will help to reduce travelling times for commuters through the eastern section of the Chilean capital and improve the service level of a key thoroughfare, which currently bears high congestion levels.

Perth desalination plant (Australia) 

Valoriza Agua is a member of the consortium that constructed and, for the last two years, has been managing the first phase and expansion of the Perth desalination plant (Australia) following an investment of €1.1 billion; the plant is capable of producing 100 Hm3 of drinking water per year and thus meet the future water needs of the communities between the Perth metropolitan area and the Goldfields region. 

Following a study by its R+D+i department, Valoriza Agua built a system of microtunnels beneath the dunes through pipelines running from the plant to the sea, aimed at reducing the brine's impact on the sea. 

The government of Western Australia, by way of the Water Corporation, awarded the plant expansion contract to the consortium thanks to the resounding success of the first stage, which was completed on time and on budget.

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