Veidekke's President and CEO Terje R. Venold regrets having to abstain from submitting a tender for the project, but stresses at the same time that there is nothing dramatic about this decision.

"From time to time, we have to decide against some opportunities," he says. "Every serious contractor knows not to compete on projects that are so large that the contractor is uncertain whether it will have access to sufficient, competitive capacity. As we did for the PPP project now in progress, we wanted to secure sufficient capacity to carry out the new project with the cooperation of several external resources. When it proved impossible to put in place an optimum competitive platform, we decided to discontinue further work on the tender."

Mr. Venold also emphasises that this does not in any way indicate that Veidekke will reduce its efforts to further develop its expertise and capacity for further PPP projects. "Our experience with the E39 Lyngdal-Flekkefjord project which is now under construction is very positive," says President and CEO Venold. "The project is progressing according to plan and our partnership with the Public Roads Administration is going very well," he adds.

Public-private partnerships are a concept whereby the developer, under contract with a public authority, designs, finances, builds and has responsibility for operation and maintenance of, for example, a road or public building for a given period of time. This is a cooperation model which is utilised in many countries. In Norway it is being applied to three major road projects and for the development of many public buildings for municipal, regional and central authorities.

For further information, please contact:

Espen Moe, Chairman of the Board, Allfarveg as,

telephone +47 21 05 77 25 /mobile +47 920 55 093

Kai Krüger Henriksen, Senior Vice President Communications, Veidekke ASA