Finance & Funding

A funding package has been secured that will help pay for a key road project in Nepal. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing a loan worth US$180 million that will be used to help pay for widening work to an 87km stretch of the East-West Highway between Kamala and Kanchanpur. At present the route has just one lane in either direction but the upgrade will see the route being widened in a bid to boost capacity and safety, with two lanes in either direction. The project is being managed by the Nepalese

Momentum is gathering for the construction of a new elevated expressway in the city of Yangon in Myanmar. The project is expected to cost US$400 million ad the expressway will measure 27km-long. The new route will provide an improved road connection for Yangon International Airport to the city’s industrial area, Yangon Jetty and the Thilawa Special Economic Zone. It will also link with the Yangon-Mandalay highway and construction is expected to commence in 2019.

Argentina is looking at financing solutions that will help the country develop and improve its road network. The country’s Transport Ministry has been holding discussions in New York with a series of major banks and finance institutions. Many of the new highway projects projected for Argentina will be carried out under the PPP model, with a new financial framework and trust fund having been planned to pay for the works. In all the programme of works calls for 7,200km of road works to be carried out using th

A new road connection is being put forward for Ecuador, with the project expected to cost in the region of US$1.14 billion. The 44km connection would include a viaduct section over the Guayas River and connect the southern part of Guayaquil with Duran. The contract would require the road and viaduct to be constructed within a four year timeframe and would allow for a 40 year period to maintain the route.

Guatemala has been spending heavily on developing its road network. Work has been carried out to 10 major routes, totalling 153km. One of the important routes to have benefited from improvements is the road connecting Tulate with La Maquina. The country has set a budget of US£208.5 million for road repairs and maintenance works in 2018. A further 25 contracts will be awarded for repairs works in December 2018.

A massive growth in construction is predicted for Sub-Saharan Africa. This comes from a report by the data and analytics company, GlobalData. Its report suggests that the region’s construction industry will grow at the fastest rate of any other world region over next five years. According to its report, the region’s construction sector will grow on average by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) by 6.6% a year, from 2018 to 2022. The company’s latest report, ‘Global Construction Outlook to 2022: Q3 2018 Up

Construction work is now well underway in Australia on the Monash Freeway upgrade in Victoria State. The project has entered its second stage and is costing US$513.5 million (A$711 million. The work involves building 36km of new lanes as well as installing the latest traffic information technology for drivers. For the section from Warrigal Road to the EastLink the router will be widened to five lanes in either direction, compared with four in either direction at present. Meanwhile between Clyde Road and Car

STRABAG has increased its stake in the A8 motorway operator PANSUEVIA. This share has been boosted from 50% to 100%. PANSUEVIA operates the autobahn stretch that runs between Ulm and Augsburg in the south of the country. SRABAG purchased the 50% stake in PANSUEVIA that was previously held by HOCHTIEF. As a result, STRABAG is now the 100% owner of the concession company operating the Ulm–Augsburg section of the A8 autobahn. Both parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price however. This section of the