Estradas de Portugal road authority to receive US$1.05bn from 2013 state budget

Portuguese road management company Estradas de Portugal (EP) received government loans totalling €851.3 million between January and September 2012, bringing the firm's total debt to €2.7 billion in the third quarter of 2012. The amount lent to EP was part of a €2.25 billion sum lent to a variety of non-financial state-owned companies in the first nine months of this year. However, the loans equated to less than half the amount granted by the government in loans to non-financial state-owned firms in the same

Portugal is planning a series of road repair and renovation works starting in 2015. The Portuguese road agency Estradas de Portugal (EP), plans to invest €436 million between 2015 and 2019. This will be invested in renovating the basic road infrastructure for local and regional routes. The plan calls for 250 bridges and viaducts to be upgraded, with 120 improvements on local roads. The programme of work also includes 100 sites where road safety will be improved.

The construction of the Marão road tunnel in Portugal will be resumed in the first half of 2014 – ending a two-year suspension of works due to the financial constraints of the winning Somague-led build consortium.