Vinci and Ridgeway net £800m PFI road job

Contractors Vinci and Ridgeway have won a £800m PFI contract to maintain the highways on the Isle of Wight.

The project will see the French contractor’s public sector partner arm Vinci Concessions team with Ridgeway to upgrade and maintain the roads, footpaths and cycle ways on the island as well as the CCTV and street lighting.

Work on the programme will begin in April 2013 and last for 25 years.

Edward Giles, cabinet member for highways and transport at the council, said: “We are about to embark on a huge project that will leave the Island with a transport infrastructure of unprecedented quality.

“Now we have reached this stage and agreed a final business case we are able to say more about the nature of the work that the project involves,” he added.

The job was originally worth £1.2bn but a cut in central government funding following the comprehensive spending review in October 2010 downgraded the scheme’s overall worth to £800m.