Finance & Funding

The Ukraine is boosting its road repair budget for 2018. For 2017 the Ukraine set a budget of US$648 million for road repairs and maintenance work. However for 2018, a budget of $1.41 billion is being set. This increased budget is being enabled by the newly established Road Fund system, which places taxes on fuel, vehicle imports, goods vehicles and road concessions. In addition, 2018 will see a change in the responsibility for road maintenance to over 120,000 links, which will be handled by regional manage

Poland has approved financing for two road projects worth nearly €1.2 billion in total, including a ring road around Chelm. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Construction said there will also be dual carriageway section for the S17 between Piaski and Hrebenne.

Land acquisition issues have stalled the start of construction of Bratislava’s orbital road by up to eight months. Work could begin this autumn, according to a report by the Slovak Spectator, because the government is working on laws that would allow construction before all land is acquired.

Autovía del Pirineo has secured €182 million for the construction and operation of several sections of the A21 motorway in Spain’s northern Navarre region. Autovía del Pirineo is a subsidiary of Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras and a member of the ACS Group. International law firm Watson Farley & Williams said that it had advised a syndicate of banks and other European institutional funders on the procurement of senior debt facilities worth €182 million for Pirineo.

Work is now starting on a major tunnel project in the US state of Virginia. Construction of a second tunnel connection for the Chesapeake Bay is expected to cost US$756million. The original Chesapeake Bay Tunnel and Bridge crossing opened to traffic in April 1964 and measures just over 37km long. Construction of a second parallel bridge was commenced in 1995 and opened to traffic in 1999. However the central tunnel link was not widened at that time and now carries more traffic than it was designed for, whil

An agreement has been signed to pay for the construction of a new 34km road link in Nigeria’s River State. The new link will connect Bonny Island with Bodo, improving transport for this key industrial area of Nigeria. The agreement was signed jointly between the Nigerian Government, Julius Berger Nigeria, and Nigeria LNG. The road project is expected to cost US$331.62 million, with around half of the financing being provided by Nigeria LNG.

The cost of expanding the A94 autobahn between Pastetten and Heldenstein in Germany is likely to be 75% higher than originally estimated.

A series of key road projects in Venezuela have fallen victim to the country’s overall financial paralysis, a result of its plummeting economy and its disastrous political climate. Insufficient finances have seen work to construct the La Verota-Kempis, Circunvalacion Sur-Caracas and Caracas-La Guaira highways now being stalled for two years.

Tendering is being opened out for a new dual carriageway connection in Argentina, located just to the south of Mendoza. The 25km link will provide an improved link between Route 7 and Route 40, joining the towns of Palmira and Agrelo. The project is expected to cost close to US$151 million, with financing being provided by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). The new dual carriageway will reduce journey times between Palmira and Agrelo.

Plans have been drawn up in the Philippines for Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas Expressway (CTBEx) project. The Metro Pacific Group submitted its proposals for the expressway to the Department of Public Works and Highways. The US$440.2 million expressway will improve the link from Cavite to Nasugbu and Tagaytay. The Metro Pacific Group hopes to receive the necessary approvals for the project by the end of 2017.