Spanish toll road refinancing plan announced

A tolled highway refinancing programme is being established in Spain to address the problem of tolled routes that are now bankrupt. Eight major tolled highways are being tackled by the refinancing deal, with the Spanish Ministry of Works keen to reduce the overall cost of the programme. Spain invested heavily in transport infrastructure in the last 10 years but not all of the projects were financially viable and these were hit hard by the worldwide financial crisis. Several projects have suffered causing further financial pain while the Spanish Government is trying to minimise any compensation payments to the firms with tolled highway concessions. The tolled highways will also be open to new tendering processes and the Spanish Ministry of Works wants to maximise the financial revenue so as to cover as much of the compensation payments as possible. The Spanish Government is also wanting to keep the total compensation payments below €1 billion although the claimants are asking for as much as €3 billion.