Press Releases 2003

July 4, 2003
Privately financed prison facilities: Bilfinger Berger secures preferred bidder status for €100 million project in Australia

Bilfinger Berger has secured the status of "preferred bidder" for the realization of two privately financed prisons in the Australian State of Victoria. The company will finance, design and construct the buildings, then operate them for a period of 25 years. The project has a volume of €100 million. The concession has been awarded by the government of the State of Victoria. Bilfinger Berger's Australian affiliated company, Baulderstone Hornibrook, will take charge of designing, building and operating the facilities.

In being chosen as preferred bidder, Bilfinger Berger is set to extend its privately-financed operational activities in Australia to include public sector buildings. The focus of its build-operate-transfer (BOT) activities has until now been on transport infrastructure. Construction work on a two-kilometre toll tunnel under Sydney's city centre representing a project volume of €520 million, for example, commenced at the start of 2003.

Bilfinger Berger has many years of experience in private-sector concession projects on international markets. In Great Britain, it operates schools and hospitals as part of the British government's private finance initiative. In Asia, the company is one of the owners of the Beijing Lufthansa Centre in China, and holds shares in the Bangkok Expressway Company, which operates key sections of the highway system in Thailand's capital city.

In Germany, Bilfinger Berger is among the pioneers of public-private partnership (PPP). Bilfinger Berger handled a PPP project with pilot status in realizing the British embassy in Berlin on behalf of the British government. In Lübeck, the company is playing a key role in the design, financing, construction and operation of a road tunnel under the river Trave. There is increasing interest in privately financed concepts in Germany. Based on the experience Bilfinger Berger has gained abroad, the company is well placed to benefit from this development.