Finance & Funding

Brazil road concessions ending

January 8, 2019

A number of major road concession agreements in Brazil are coming to the end of their terms by 2021. This includes eight concession packages for key routes, extending some 2,400km in all and generating over US$521 million/year in toll revenue. Tendering will have to be carried out for all of these routes, with two of the most prominent being the Nova Dutra highway linking Sao Paulo with Rio de Janeiro and the 218km Washington Luis highway in Sao Paulo State. At present CCR has the concession for the Nov

Myanmar bridge funding sourced from Japan

January 3, 2019

Funding has been secured from Japan to help pay for construction of the Thanlyin Bridge No 3 project in Myanmar. A loan worth US$282.5 million is being provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Construction is due to start in March 2019 and should take until 2023 to complete. The new bridge will form part of Asia’s new East-West Economic Corridor.

Mexico’s road development programme to continue

January 3, 2019

Mexico is setting a budget for road development works during the coming year. A budget of US$4.14 billion has been set for rebuilding existing roads and building new links during 2019. This budget has been set by the Mexican Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT). Projects being prioritised include the completion of Oaxaca-Puerto Escondido and Oaxaca-Mitla-Tehuantepec Isthmus roads. Maintenance work, link roads from highways to towns and upgrades to 5,500km of roads across the country will also b

Chinese highway projects being planned

January 3, 2019

A number of major road and bridge projects are now commencing in China. In Sichuan Province an environmental impact assessment report is being carried out for the Jigzhi-Barkam highway project. Work is starting shortly on the highway, which will stretch 224km and is expected to cost US$4.3 billion to construct. The report is being carried out by the province’s Ecology and Environment Agency. This new highway will provide many challenges to construction due to the topography of the route and will feature 190

Strabag picks up Czech D1 motorway deal

December 21, 2018

Strabag is to modernise nearly 15km of the D1 motorway in the Czech Republic under a contract worth nearly €73 million. Work includes complete renewal of the cement concrete surface between Velký Beranov and Měřín to be done within three years. Working on the project are the consortium leader Strabagm based in Austria, and its two partner companies Metrostav and EUROVIA’s Czech subsidiary. The project will begin with a temporary widening of the motorway in the direction of Prague to allow full reno

Highway projects for China’s Henan Province

December 21, 2018

A series of highway projects have been budgeted for China’s Henan Province. In all some US$15.8 billion will be spent on 14 separate highway projects, which will stretch in excess of 1,000km in all. The projects are starting in 2022. The work includes building seven cross-provincial highways, three urban highways and two Zhengzhou City highways. They also include building two Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway diversion highways.

Euro Auctions: from Dromore to many more in 20 years

December 20, 2018

Euro Auctions is celebrating 20 years since its first event in Dromore, Northern Ireland, on the same site that is now the company’s global headquarters. At the event, a one-day auction, 371 vehicle and equipment lots went under the hammer to aachieve sales close to €1.12 million, said Derek Keys, founder of the business. Euro Auctions expanded into England in 2000 with its first sale in Wetherby where it auctioned a selection of Volvo dump trucks from the Far East. A couple of years later the company acq

Step up to the new Bobcat Institute

December 20, 2018

Bobcat has relaunched its training centre at its European headquarters in Dobris, the Czech Republic, as the Bobcat Institute. For a decade, Bobcat has hosted the training centre at its headquarters - Doosan Bobcat EMEA Campus – where it has been surrounded by the Bobcat factory and the company’s Innovation Centre. The Bobcat Institute consists of a large main building with four training rooms, each capable of holding up to 30 individuals. In addition to the classrooms, the facility also includes office

Norway’s E18 Lysaker-to-Ramstadsletta project faces funding issue

December 20, 2018

A lack of financing is jeopardising construction of the new E18 highway between Lysaker and Asker on the outskirts of Oslo. Media reports say that the Norwegian Road Administration (Statens Vegvesen) has received no funding for the project that is scheduled to start next year. The first phase of the project, between Lysaker and Ramstadsletta, has been scheduled for 2019-2024. Around 90,000 vehicles use the existing E18 road, a local thoroughfare. The new E18 will include cycle paths, pedestrian ways a

Kazakhstan road connections to be repaired

December 19, 2018

Kazakhstan is setting out a budget for road repair and upgrade work, in a bid to improve the country’s transport network. The Ministry of Investment and Development has plans to carry out works to 1,700km of Kazakhstan’s primary road links during 2019. The programme of works is expected to cost US$222.8 million. A similar road repair programme with a slightly smaller budget was carried out during 2018.