Meridiam selected preferred bidder for final section of A465 road in Wales

This 30-year concession is the first one procured by Welsh Government under the Mutual Investment Model (MIM) framework, a new Public Private Partnership model. MIM schemes have been developed to provide and support more than £1 billion of social and economic infrastructure projects in Wales and help improve the public services of the country.

The project aims to upgrade to two lanes in each direction, the last 18-km section of A465 road which runs across the northern edge of industrial South Wales. This road will provide a safe, fast and strategic east-west connection between Swansea and the English Midlands, improve traffic flow and reduce congestion.

As well as improving Wales’ mobility infrastructure, the A465 road will support economic growth and community benefits in the region. The Welsh Government expects the project to deliver around £400m of direct spend in the country and to generate over £675m of Gross Value Added for the wider Welsh economy. This vital route for business, tourism as well as local residents, will also facilitate economic regeneration of the region by improving accessibility while reducing journey time. It will also deliver a sustainable and resilient scheme by improving environmental standards. Measures will be enforced to protect the watercourses, ecological sites and public rights of way as well as improving air quality and reducing noise impacts on residents. The new road will provide landscape integration planting and screening. The environmental design of the project is driven by nature conservation objectives and aim to create improved quality habitats for the different living species.

This project illustrates Meridiam’s constant commitment to build sustainable transport infrastructure and will directly contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Construction is to start in late 2020 and should end in 2024.

Amdan Meridiam

“Fe sefydlwyd Meridiam yn 2005 gan Thierry Déau, gyda’r gred y gall alinio anghenion y sector cyhoeddus â anghenion y sector breifat er mwyn gallu darparu datrysiadau hollbwysig i anghenion cymunedol. Mae Meridiam yn fuddsoddwr corfforaethol a rheolwr asedau yn unol a chyfraith Ffrengig. Mae’r cwmni yn arbenigo mewn datblygu, ariannu a rheoli’n hir dymor seilwaith cyhoeddus mewn tri sector craidd: symudedd, trawsnewid egni a’r amgylchedd a seilwaith cymdeithasol. Gyda swyddfeydd yn Addis Ababa, Amman, Dakar, Istanbul, Efrog Newydd, Lwcsembwrg, Paris, Toronto a Fienna, mae Meridiam ar hyno bryd yn rheoli dros US$8biliwn a mwy na 80 o phrosiectau ac asedau hyd at heddiw. Mae Meridiam wedi ei ardystio i safon ISO 9001:2015, Sgôr Cynaliadwyedd Uwch gan VigeoEiris ac yn mabwysiadu methodoleg Amgylcheddol, Cymdeithasol a Llywodraethu (ACLl) perchnogol sydd wedi ei seilio ar Nodau Datblygu Cynaliadwy’r Cenhedloedd Unedig.”

* Photo credit @mitchorr, unsplash.com.