Backed by EU infrastructure funds, Spain has unveiled a Euro 5-billion (US$5.7 billion) P3 highway modernization program known as Plan de Inversión Extraordinaria de Carreteras (PIC). Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy launched the “special priority” program, declaring that Spain had sufficiently recovered from the economic downturn and is now “. . . in a position to boost [its] infrastructure.”

Speaking to an audience of the CEO’s of the top Spanish constructors-developers, including ACS, Ferrovial, Acciona, OHL, and Sacyr, Rajoy said that funds had been pledged by the European Investment Bank and by the EU’s European Funds for Strategic Investments. The plan is to invest in 2,000 km of Spanish highways over the next four years, including 20 existing free-access four-lane state highways and a batch of existing two-lane roads.