Finance & Funding

Slovakia said it will tender this year for the 14km R2 expressway linking Roznava and Jablonov nad Turnov with completion likely in 2024. Slovakia's transport minister Arpad Ersek said construction could start by Q3 2019. R2 is a 360km route that will run from Kosice in the east across the country to Trenčín, near the Czech border in the west. It will pass through Bánovce nad Bebravou, Prievidza and Lučenec. Roznava is an economic and tourist centre around 70km from Kosice.

The Government of Romania will build three motorway segments through a public-private partnership. The motorway segments in question are the 109km long Ungheni-Iasi-Targu Neamt segment, which will have a bridge built over the river Prut, the 100km long Rasnov-Brasov-Ploiesti motorway section, and the 550km long motorway segment between Alexandria and Lugoj.

A new bridge is to be constructed in Russia that will span the Chusovaya River. The project is expected to cost in excess of US$241 million to carry out. The bridge will measure in excess of 9km-long. The cost of the project will be split between the Russian Federal Government, the Regional Government and the concession firm awarded the deal. The project will be carried out by the Perm Concession Company. The package of works includes rebuilding access roads. The concession package was awarded by the Federa

France has increased its annual national-road modernisation fund by 25% to €1 billion for starting next year. French Transport Minister Élisabeth Borne made the announcement, pointing out that the country’s roads in the worst condition will get priority. Also, starting in 2022, roads will be reviewed every five years under a new scoring system to determine which are in most need of repairs and modernisation. Borne noted that she wanted to speed up improvement works on routes serving mid-sized cities.

The Czech division of Eurovia has won a €126 million contract for a section of the D35 motorway. The Czech road and motorway management company RSD sealed the deal Eurovia, part of the Vinci Group, for construction of 14.7km between Casy and Ostrov, in the Pardubice region. Eurovia submitted a bid of nearly €126 million for the work that the government and the European Union had estimated in 2016 might cost around €194 million. Other bids had been submitted by M-Silnice and Astaldi. Eurovia recently an

Recent heavy rains in Kenya have caused extensive damage to the road network, washing away road surfaces and signage and causing scouring of bridges. As much as US$180 million may be required to carry out the necessary repairs to the road network. Nairobi and its surrounding area have been particularly badly hit. The city’s central business district and various industrial areas are key to the country’s economy and have suffered extensive damage to various road sections, so repairing these areas is seen as a

Financing from China is helping pay for a series of major infrastructure projects in Pakistan.

The Australian state of Queensland is setting out major plans for infrastructure development. A budget of US$33.8 billion (A$45 billion) has been set for improvements to transport systems across the state over a four year period. Planned work will include developing new roads and highways as well as road connections.