Finance & Funding

India is setting out ambitious plans to further develop its infrastructure, with a renewed focus on the north east of the country. A budget of US$22.35 billion has been set out by the Indian Government for infrastructure projects, for which highway construction will play a major part. The states in line for this infrastructure development are: Arunachal, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Pradesh and Sikkim. Details of the individual projects being planned have yet to be released however.

European-based construction group Strabag, through its Polish subsidiaries, has won three road contracts from Poland’s General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA). The total contract value is split among two lots along the S19 north of Warsaw for €73 million and €43 million as well as one lot along the S61 in southern Poland for €54 million. “Poland is our third most important market [and] we celebrated our 30th anniversary there,” said Thomas Birtel, chief executive of Strabag Group.

The World Bank is starting a technical review of a Brasov-Ploiesti motorway with a view to extending a financial package for construction. According to the Ziarul Financiar newspaper, the Romanian government is seeking financial support after its failed attempts to establish a public-private partnership. The 110km Brasov-Ploiesti highway is part of the planned 600km A3 Motorway that connects the capital Bucharest in the southeast with the Transylvanian commune of Bors on the Hungarian border in the

Serbia has signed a deal with Power China to construct the Ostruznica-Bubanj Potok section of the capital Belgrade’s ring road.

Romania’s National Company for the Administration of Road Infrastructure has received 20 tenders for two segments of the Craiova-Pitesti highway.

The Kuwaiti Government is setting out an ambitious programme of road infrastructure development. The authorities have set a budget of US$13.25 billion which will be spent on 24 new road projects. The ministry of public works is already developing Kuwait’s infrastructure system and currently has 25 road and bridge projects being built. These current projects have a total value of $8.58 billion.

Growth in the first three-quarters of 2017 remained high for the Italian construction manufacturing sector, according to the umbrella organisation Unacea. Over the first nine months of the year, 7,964 units of construction equipment were sold in the Italian market, up 13% compared with the same period in 2016. This consisted of 7,551 earthmoving machines, up 13% year-on-year. Positive trends were also seen in the road equipment sector, which was up 11% on a similar basis, with 318 machines sold.

A series of road improvement projects will now go ahead in Sydney Australia, following funding from the New South Wales (NSW) state Government. Five road upgrade projects will be carried out, in a bid to improve traffic flow and cut congestion. The funding is worth US$91.6 million (A$115 million) in all. One road stretch due an upgrade will be Cambeltown Road. The improvements are being carried out to increase capacity in the north-west, south-west and west areas of the city

Funding worth US$1.2 billion will help pay for the stage two portion of the project to upgrade the Northwest Trade Corridor project in Bangladesh. The highway will improve transport connections to and from Dhaka, with stage two being for the 190km stretch between Elenga and Rangpur. This funding is being provided by the Philippines-based Asian Development Bank (ADB), although further financing from the Bangladesh Government will pay for the remaining $472.6 million required for this highway section.