The Texas State Transportation Commission voted yesterday unanimously in favor of starting the process to finalize the concession contract for the SH-288 highway around Houston, one of the largest in the United States.
The decision fully affects the ACS Group and Abertis, owners of 100% of this concession, which until now involved a 52-year public-private participation contract awarded in 2015 that included the financing, design, construction and operation of four new lanes. toll in the median of the corridor and its accesses, the rehabilitation and improvement of the roads and links of the existing highway, and access to the hospital complex known as Texas Medical Center. The highway had begun operating in 2020.
ACS shares closed yesterday with a drop of 3.15% on the Madrid Stock Exchange. According to the information provided to the market yesterday by the company, before the final decision is made “a period of six months will be opened to negotiate a new agreement with the current concessionaire that avoids said early termination and that reflects the interest of the State of Texas. and the investing shareholders.”
Texas authorities, who awarded the contract at a time of financial difficulties for the state, have reconsidered the concession after the volume of traffic on the highway has skyrocketed and with it, the volume of tolls, revenue that is now They want to control.
