Finance & Funding

Interest is strong in Paraguay’s Costanera Sur project. So far six bids have been made to the country’s Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC). The highway will connect Asuncion with Lambare and the project is expected to cost in the order of US$160 million to build. The work is due to commence in September 2019, taking around 30 months to complete. Contractors from Angola, Brazil and Spain are amongst those making bids, in partnership with local construction companies.

A funding arrangement has been agreed between Ghana and China to pay for road construction works. The package is for a US$646.6 million deferred payment deal. It has been set up with Sinohydro to cover an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. This will be for upgrade and improvement work for roads and interchanges. The package is the first in a series worth up to $2 billion that will pay for various major infrastructure projects in Ghana. One of the projects will include building a road

Widening work for Poland’s A2 highway will be carried out between the Lodz Polnoc Junction and Konotopa Junction. The 88km highway stretch will benefit from the addition of an extra lane in either direction. Between Polnoc and Pruszkow this will result in a third lane being added in either direction. Between Pruszkow and Konotopa meanwhile this will result in a fourth lane being added in either direction. The construction work will take until 2021 to complete and will cost around €139.22 million. The Polish

A loan package from the World Bank will help pay for transport infrastructure upgrades in Bangladesh.

Much of the necessary funding has now been secured for construction of the first section of Chile’s Americo Vespucio Oriente (AVO 1) highway. A loan package worth US$832 million is being provided jointly by a number of funding bodies. These are; Banco Estado, Bci and Banco de Chile. In all the project is expected to cost $984 million. The construction work is being carried out by a consortium comprising Sacyr and Aleatica (formely OHL Concesiones).

Financing is being sought in Australia for the a major tunnel project in New South Wales. The project is for the Western Harbour Tunnel, which is intended to run underneath Sydney Harbour. The route for the proposed tunnel would rund from the Rozelle interchange to the Warringah Freeway. The tunnel project forms part of a wider plan to build new road links in Sydney, in a bid to help reduce the city’s traffic problem. The new tunnel would lower journey times for drivers by cutting congestion on the famous S

It could be a decade before Ireland’s 105km Cork-Limerick M20 motorway is finished, the government has warned. Road safety groups and businesses have been pushing for the €900m M20 motorway because of issues over fatalities on the existing rural route. Simon Coveney, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, said the government was committed to the route – the largest motorway project to be undertaken in the next 25 years, and money has been earmarked for it. According to Irish media, Coveney also noted tha

Two roads linking Tanzania with Burundi in East Africa will be upgraded. Construction work will start in 2019. Some US$322 million of funding is being provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB). Upgrades will be carried out on the roads connecting Rumonge with Gitaz as well as Kabingo with Kasulu and Manyovu. An new border post will be constructed.

The construction of two new national roads is being considered in Indonesia. Costing some US$296 million to build, the roads would form part of the Trans Papua network. One of the routes would run around 98km, connecting Wamena with Paro. Meanwhile the other road would connect Paro and Mumumu. Both routes would be offered as concession packages, with the concession term being for 15 years.

A new report from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) predicts growth for the US construction market in 2019. The US transportation infrastructure market is expected to grow 4.2% in 2019, according to ARTBA’s annual economic forecast.