Finance & Funding

Mozambique’s new suspension bridge connecting Maputo with Catembe is now open to traffic. The suspension bridge is the longest of its type in Africa, measuring almost 3km-long and surpassing the previous holder of this accolade, the Mapati Bridge in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The new bridge spans Maputo Bay and forms part of a new highway connection running from Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, all the way to the border with South Africa. The route will be of major benefit for Mozambique, helping to boo

The UK’s Institution of Civil Engineers has urged the Scottish government to make long-term funding for roads a higher priority. The ICE’s call comes after publishing its report State of the Nation Scotland 2018: infrastructure investment. In it, the ICE says that the newly formed Scottish Infrastructure Commission must be independent, transparent and be evidence-led in its recommendations to the Scottish government.

A new bridge is planned between the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Funding has been sourced in the shape of a loan for a key highway project in Uganda. The project is for the upgrading of the 95m route between Kampala and Jinja and a loan of US$229.5 million is being provided. The loan is being provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB). In all however the project is expected to cost $1.5 billion. The expressway is an important route for Uganda and will for part of the route connecting the country with Kenya, running through its capital Nairobi to its port of Mombasa.

The budget has been set at US$693 million for the Zimbabwe’s highway running between Harare, Masvingo and Beibridge.

The Malaysian Government is pushing ahead with five key infrastructure projects in Sarawak state during 2019. These will be worth over US$115 million. A new access road will be built to Kuching Airport, while Kota Samarahan's route 8101 will be upgraded.

A new expressway project is underway in India’s Uttar Pradesh State. The 293km Bundelkhand Expressway project is worth in the region of US$1.135 billion. Land acquisition for the project has proven an issue with the Uttar Pradesh State Government now taking steps to speed up this process. Bidding for the project is opening shortly. The aim of the project is to help develop the economy of the Bundelkhand Region of Uttar Pradesh State.

Spain is looking to revamp its contractual formulae for large infrastructure work following moves to limit profits from long-term concession deals. The Ministry of Works is putting together a hybrid contract template for use with the Extraordinary Investment Plan for Roads. The previous government had tried to launch the investment plan on the back of around 20 concession contracts of over 20 years. The hybrid contract would aim to save road investments worth around €5 billion. It would be a mixed con

The head of Bratislava’s transport committee has said several companies involved in construction work for the D4 bypass are suspected of not disposing waste properly. Jozef Uhler, chairman of the committee and the vice mayor of Jarovce, a borough of Bratislava, made the comments to the Slovakian newspaper, Hospodárske Noviny, a daily economic newspaper. Slovakia has had to defend itself over questions over environmental issues before, including in early 2012 when the European Commission took it to tas

Arpad Ersek, Slovakia's Minister of Transport, said another two tenders for construction of two R2 expressway stretches will be called by the end of 2018. They will include the stretch Roznava-Jablonov nad Turnou with the Soroska tunnel and the Kosice, Saca-Kosicke Olsany. In both cases financing has been secured. They could be financed through a loan or through the PPP scheme (public-private partnership). Ersek added that the ministry should receive an additional funds of up to €200 million through r