Press Releases 2002

September 5, 2002
Christening the shield machine at the Lübeck Herren Tunnel: One of Germany's first private-sector financed road projects gets off the mark

September 5, 2002, saw the christening of the shield machine at the Herren Tunnel in Lübeck. The ceremony heralded the start of the tunnel driving work on one of Germany's first private-sector financed road projects. The 2,125 meter long tunnel will run under the Trave and, from 2005 onwards, put an end to road and ship traffic intersecting. The twin tubes 10.4 meters in diameter will be installed using a tunnel boring machine. Herrentunnel Lübeck GmbH & Co. KG, a joint venture founded by Bilfinger Berger and Hochtief, will design, finance and install the toll section and will operate it for a period of 30 years following completion. The investment is worth a total of €160 million.

"We are cutting overheads by pooling our design, building and operator skills at an early stage in the process. And by taking an overall view of a project we can identify a whole string of possibilities for improvement in the conception phase," explain Herbert Bodner, Executive Board Chairman of Bilfinger Berger AG and Dr. Hans-Peter Keitel, Executive Board Chairman of Hochtief. Private-sector financed operator models provide a platform for implementing urgent projects such as the Herren Tunnel quickly and efficiently. For this to happen, the State must take on a new role. Wherever it makes sense, the State can simply limit itself to formulating its needs. The public sector is then no longer an investor, but rather a user of services. Independent studies have shown that, over the life cycle of the projects, private-sector financed infrastructure solutions are far more cost-effective than publicly funded measures.

The investment required in infrastructure is immense. In Germany, the opportunities for private companies to realize tunnels, bridges and roads have been improved by the recent amendment to the Highways Construction Private Financing Act. The initiative by the Federal Ministry for Transport aimed at privately funding extensions to sections of autobahn that are particularly congested is a clear sign of the growing interest being shown in privately-financed models.