THE signing of the concession contract and a financing agreement for the first section of the Porto - Lisbon high-speed line was announced on July 29 in a joint ceremony held at the headquarters of infrastructure manager Infrastructure Portugal (IP).

IP has signed the 30-year concession contract to design, build and maintain the 71km Porto - Oiã section with Avan Norte, a company established by the LusoLav consortium of Mota-Engil, Teixeira Duarte, Casais, Alves Ribeiro, Conduril Engenharia and Gabriel Couto. LusoLav was awarded the concession in October 2024.

Avan Norte has in turn signed a €875m financing agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the first tranche of a €3bn financing package for the Porto - Lisbon public-private partnership project (PPP) that was approved by the EIB last year. The EIB loan for the Porto - Oiã section is partially guaranteed by the European Union’s (EU) InvestEU programme and is the largest single contract signed by the EIB under InvestEU, according to the bank.

In addition to the EIB loan, the Porto - Oiã concession will be funded with:

  • €900m secured from national and international financial institutions
  • €480m in EU grant support under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), and
  • €150m in co-financing from IP.

Avan Norte was represented at the signing ceremony by Carlos Mota Santos, chairman and CEO of Mota-Engil. He noted that the LusoLav consortium is composed entirely of Portuguese construction companies “that have earned the trust of a broad group of international financial institutions, reflecting the quality and international relevance of the project and the confidence in its executors.”

As well as the construction of 71km of new high-speed infrastructure, the Porto - Oiã concession includes work to accommodate high-speed trains at Porto Campanhã station, a new bridge across the River Douro, and a new underground station at Santo Ovídio in Vila Nova de Gaia on the south bank. A connection to the conventional Porto - Lisbon main line will be built near Canelas, and a traction substation in the Estarreja area.

“The signing of the concession and financing for the first section of the Lisbon - Porto high-speed line represents a decisive step towards the construction of a modern, efficient and sustainable railway network, says IP president, Miguel Cruz.

“This is a transformative investment for Portugal and a milestone in our decades-long collaboration with the country,” says Jean-Christophe Laloux, EIB’s director general of financing and advisory operations within the EU.

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