AWSAII STATEMENT Commencement of construction of A2 Motorway Świecko – Nowy Tomyśl (105.9 km)

Construction of the Western section of A2 Motorway has begun and will be completed prior to EURO 2012 Football Championships, providing a ling between Polish and European motorways.

On 16 July 2009 a ground breaking ceremony took place on the Western section of the existing motorway, in Bolewice, commencing the construction of A2 section from Świecko to Nowy Tomyśl.

The ceremony was performed by the Minister of Infrastructure Cezary Grabarczyk, General Director of National Roads and Motorways Lech Witecki, President of the Company Autostrada Wielkopolska II S.A. Andrzej Patalas and president of Strabag SE Hans Peter Haselsteiner.

INTENDED CONSTRUCTION WORKS

A2 section from Nowy Tomysl to Świecko will be the one of the longest motorway stretches in Poland to be built with concrete pavement. The cost of construction of 105.9 km of A2 section Świecko – Nowy Tomyśl is EUR 1.298 billion, that is EUR 12.2 million per kilometer of a fully equipped motorway. The program agreed by the parties provides for the opening the road to traffic prior to EURO 2012. The general contractor is the company A2 Strada (with major shareholders being Kulczyk Holding S.A and Strabag AG (Austria)).

The scope of works includes inter alia:

• 105.9 km of concrete pavement motorway, including rehabilitation of 18.5 km of the existing national Road No.2
• 81 new bridges and overbridges – with the target number of bridge structures being 87
• 2 Operation and Maintenance Centers (Ilanka, Biały Mur)
• 6 full interchanges (target number: 8: Nowy Tomyśl, Trzciel, Jordanowo, Torzym, Rzepin, Świecko)
• 6 Rest and Service Areas (target number 10 Rogoziniec, Chociszewo, Koryta, Walewice, Sosna, Gnilec) equipped with parking areas, toilets, playgrounds , as well as 4 bars and 4 petrol stations
• closed toll collection system. i.e. 5 Toll Plazas/Stations (1 Mainline Toll Plaza Tarnawa, 4 Toll Stations at interchanges Nowy Tomyśl, Trzciel, Jordanowo, Torzym) . The drivers will pay for the actual distance traveled with ticket collected on entry and payment on exit;
• full environmental protection equipment (evaporation tanks, noise barriers, protective greenery, culverts, safety equipment, emergency roadside telephones every 2 km, fence along the entire motorway (except for the interchanges)

The entire, almost 106 km, section of A2 has been divided into 7 subsections, for which AWSAII has been seeking building permits. Three Eastern sections of the motorway are already covered by the building permits in the hands of AWSAII issued by the Voivodship Authorities of Wielkopolskie and Lubuskie, while the remaining four will be issued until the end of this year, in accordance with the timetable approved by the Public Party.

After the A2 section to Świecko is built, it will be delivered for operation to Autostrada Eksploatacja SA, the operator of the existing A2 Toll Motorway section from Nowy Tomyśl to Konin.

Andrzej Patalas , president of AWSAII said:

“The new section of the motorway will be of tremendous importance to the country’s economy by way of facilitating the trade exchange and mobility Between Poland and Germany. In addition, travelers’ safety will be enhanced, as drivers are forced now to travel in humiliating conditions, risking their lives and health on congested roads”, said Andrzej Patalas, President of the Board of AWSAII.”

FUNDING SOURCES

• The funds amounting to 1.6 billion EUR for the design and construction of the motorway to Świecko come from three sources:
• the loan from the European Investment Bank of EUR 1.0 billion (ca. 62% of the Project cost);
• the loan from 11 international and Polish commercial banks of EUR 400 million (ca. 26% of the Project cost); banks have granted also the loan for VAT expenditures in the amount up to 150 million PLN. The following 11 commercial banks are committing/ lending funds to the Project: BBVA S.A.Bank, Pekao S.A., BRE Bank S.A., Caja Madrid, Calyon, Deutsche Bank AG, Espirito Santo Investment, KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, PKO BP, Societe Generale, WestLB;
• shareholders’ contribution of more than EUR 186 million (ca. 12% of the Project cost), including:
  • share capital (EUR 50 million),
  • junior loan (EUR 136 million).

* * *
Explanation

AWSAII

AWSAII is a special purpose vehicle related to AWSA, established with a view to build and operate the A2 motorway, stretch Świecko – Nowy Tomyśl. The final shareholding structure will include: Kulczyk Holding S.A. (40%), Meridiam A2 West S a.r.l. (40%), Strabag AG (10%) and KWM Investment GmbH (10%). The current share capital of the Company is PLN 40 million (and will be increased by September of this year to 50 million EUR). Andrzej Patalas is President of the Management Board.

A2Strada

A2Strada Sp. z o.o. is a special purpose vehicle established for the purpose of providing the design and executing the construction of Section II of A2 Motorway Świecko – Nowy Tomyśl. The major shareholders include Strabag AG and Kulczyk Holding.

EIB

The European Investment Bank (EIB) was created by the Treaty of Rome in 1958 as the long-term lending bank of the European Union, providing loans to public and private sectors for European projects in such areas as: cohesiveness and convergence of EU regions, support to SMEs, environmental protection plans, research and development, innovations, transport, power industry. The Bank is present in the EU and in ca. 140 countries throughout the world with which the EU entered into cooperation agreements.
The EIB is a non-profit organization. It is owned by the member states of the EU. The EIB does not use the EU budget; rather, its business is funded from funds raised on the capital markets. The projects fostered by the Bank are thoroughly selected by basing on the following criteria:

• they must contribute to the attainment of the EU goals,
• they must be reasonable from the economic, financial and technological point of view, as well as environmental friendly,
• they should attract funding from other sources.