Finance & Funding

The funding for a stretch of Sri Lanka’s Central Expressway project now looks to have been secured. A loan of nearly US$904 million from Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) will provide the necessary finance package for the project. The route of the Central Expressway runs from Colombo to Dambulla, having originally been called the Northern Expressway Project. This latest funding package will help pay for work to the 32.5km link running off to the east at Pothuhera and running to Galagedara, close

Kazakhstan has set a budget of US$1.08 billion that will be used to build new roads as well as to upgrade and maintain existing links. In all the country has 23 separate road projects planned, which will see improvements to 4,200km of roads in all. Tolling systems are being installed on three major routes.

A new expressway project is being planned for India’s Uttar Pradesh State. A loan worth US$1.75 billion is being provided by the Punjab National Bank that will help pay for the construction of the route. Building the new expressway is expected to take three years to complete. Revenue from the tolls collected will be used to pay back the loan inn a series of installments.

Technology groups and agencies have until August 16 to enter the Transport-Technology Research Innovation for International Development (T-TRIID) competition. Under the Applied Research Programme in High Volume Transport (HVT), the competition funds short projects for safer and more efficient transport within low-income countries in Africa and South Asia. The programme is implemented by development and infrastructure agency IMC Worldwide, supported by the Knowledge Transfer Network – a UK agency for p

The tunnel project to connect northern Poland’s Uznam and Wolin islands is now getting the go-ahead.

A road widening project worth US$134.3 million is now going ahead in Ecuador. The road connecting Aloag with Santo Domingo is being improved along a 100km stretch, widening the route so that it will feature two lanes in either direction instead of the single lane in either direction at present. This will boost the transport connection between Pichincha Province and Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas Province. The contract was originally awarded in 2015 but stalled in 2017 following a disagreement over tolling.

Financing now looks to be secured for two major infrastructure projects in Bangladesh. The US$300 million Tamabil to Sylhet highway looks likely to receive a funding package from the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (AIIB) in China. The feasibility study for the Shambhuganj Bridge also looks likely to receive funding from the AIIB.

Dutch construction company Heijmans has been awarded the final contract for the A1 motorway project between Apeldoorn and Azelo in the Netherlands. The €127 million contract will see the widening of 28km of motorway between Twello and Deventer to eight lanes and the road between Deventer-Oost and Rijssen widened to six lanes. Works is expected to start in spring 2019 for completion in the autumn 2020.

A finance package has been secured in Colombia for the Autopista al Mar 1 highway project. A loan worth close to US$206 million is being provided by the national development bank, Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN). The highway forms part of Colombia’s 4G infrastructure development plan and the finance package will be provided in three separate tranches. The construction work is being carried out by a consortium comprising Strabag, Concay and Sacyr Concesiones. The project will upgrade the 71km