0085 Germany's First Build-Operate-Transfer Project

Germany's First Build-Operate-Transfer Project

"Build-Operate-Transfer" has rapidly become the magic formula for public agencies interested in obtaining transport infrastructure without having to burden public budgets from the outset of each project. It involves partnering with private sector companies that shoulder much of the risk and obtain the rewards, generally through tolls charged for highways, bridges, or tunnels over a specified time period before transferring the property to public ownership.

Germany's first BOT project--involving a toll tunnel under the Warnow River to provide a link between the A19 autobahn and the B103 state road to avoid the congestion in the city of Rostock--is expected to be completed in 2002. The two-lane tunnel will be about three kilometers in length and is expected to have an average weekday volume of 2,000 vehicles. It will be built and operated by the German Warnowquerung company, a subsidiary of the French Bouygues group.

The Basel, Switzerland-based Prognos survey firm undertook numerous surveys to establish reliable traffic counts and projections based on interviews with road and ferry users. Morning and evening peak hours, along with seasonal peaks during the summer holiday, were factored into the forecasts. Heavy goods vehicles are expected to make up 8 percent of the average daily traffic, resulting mainly from Rostock's port operations.

The Rostock crossing is one of 12 German BOT projects currently on the drawing board. Given the resentment over imposition of tolls in a country whose autobahn interstate highway system has consistently avoided imposing charges on users, officials are exploring and fine-tuning toll options with great care using newly developed empirical data bases prepared by independent survey companies.