CSCEC Consortium Secures Concession Bid for Qingdao Section of Laizhou-Qingdao Expressway with £18.3bn Estimated Investment
Per Securities Daily dispatches, a joint tender consortium led by China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited, alongside China Construction First Bureau Group, China Construction Second Bureau Group and China Construction Third Bureau Group, has won the franchise concession contract for the Qingdao stretch of the Laizhou-Qingdao Expressway. The full estimated total investment assigned to the infrastructure scheme stands at approximately 159.1 billion yuan.
The expressway route begins north of Xishangkuang Village within Jiudian Town of Pingdu City, marking the administrative boundary between Pingdu and Laizhou, and links northward directly to the finished Laizhou segment of the same arterial route. Its southern terminus connects to an ongoing fast-track corridor linking the Blue Valley area and Jiaodong International Airport. An integrated Shuangbu connecting road extends further south to Chunyang Road. Running from north to south, the thoroughfare traverses four county-level administrative regions: Pingdu, Laixi, Jimo and Chengyang. Three auxiliary link roads will be constructed concurrently, covering Shuangbu, Jiudian and Rizhuang. The main carriageway of the expressway measures 83.12 kilometres in full length.
This highway development is designated a core infrastructure priority within Shandong Province’s 15th Five-Year socio-economic development framework, forming a vital segment of the regional “Smooth Shandong” highway network rollout. The project will adopt a build-operate-transfer concession framework after contract formalisation, with a total cooperation term of 28 years and four months split across a six-month preparation phase, a three-year construction window and an operational period spanning 24 years and ten months. Joint venture rules stipulate a 49:51 capital split between local public investment representatives and the private concessionaire consortium, with registered project capital accounting for roughly one fifth of the overall projected spend. All physical assets constructed under the franchise will transfer to municipal authorities free of charge once the operating tenure expires.
Completion of the carriageway will establish unbroken rapid transit links connecting Pingdu and Laixi with central Qingdao and Jiaodong International Airport. Direct road connectivity slashes inter-regional journey durations and lifts throughput efficiency for private passenger traffic and commercial freight fleets operating between the inland county zones and the coastal metropolitan hub.
Regional transport planning authorities across Shandong advance multiple cross-district highway expansion schemes under the current five-year roadmap, expanding high-speed road coverage to deliver seamless interconnection between county centres, industrial zones and major air cargo and passenger terminals. Additional arterial and feeder road upgrades will align with the Laizhou-Qingdao Expressway construction timeline to strengthen the integrated three-dimensional transport network spanning the Shandong Peninsula. Consortium teams now move forward with detailed design mapping, land coordination and financial closing work ahead of official construction commencement procedures.
