Finance & Funding

The project to widen Managua’s Pista Juan Pablo II highway in Nicaragua has taken another step forward to commencing. Nicaragua’s Government is giving its approval for a loan to pay for the project. The US$105.4 million loan will be provided by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). Further funding worth $136 million is being provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB), with $33.4 million coming from the Nicaragua Government.

Work is now complete on the US$76.3 million highway project providing a key link between the North and the South of Vietnam at Da Nang city. This 13km project was carried out by Spanish contractor OHL, having been awarded in 2014 by Vietnam Expressway Corporation. Financing for the work came from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Meanwhile OHL is also building a 544m viaduct over the Lanch Tray River in Vietnam that will provide a new link to the coastal city of Hai Phong.

Global excavator demand will exceed $50 billion in 2021, according to a new market report by the US-based consultancy Freedonia.

China’s Guizhou Province is carrying out a major programme of road network expansion and development works. In all the plan calls for the construction of 97,000km of rural roads, which are being built in a bid to boost connectivity. Funding is being provided by the Bank of Guizhou and Bank of Guiyang in the shape of a series of loans.

Plans are being drawn up for a new bridge connection that will link Nepal with India. The bridge will span the Mechi River and will connect India’s Panitanki Bypass with Nepal’s East-West Highway. The project has been the subject of discussions between the two countries and is now moving forward following the successful conclusions of talks. The aim of the project is to boost trade and transport between the two nations. Construction of the 1.5km bridge link is expected to cost US$24.8 million

Doosan is making moves to strengthen its presence in the EMEA market. Doosan Bobcat and Doosan Infracore intend to transfer the Doosan Heavy business from Doosan Bobcat to Doosan Infracore. Both parties are pursuing this transfer process to allow each to concentrate on strengthening their core competencies. This transfer process is to be effective as of January 1st, 2018.

The bypass around the Slovakian town of Ružomberok, which was supposed to be finished this summer, faces a delay of more than four years. The bypass is part of a 15.2km stretch of the D1 highway between Hubová and Ivachnová. Ružomberok, with a population of around 45,000 including its surrounding area, is in the Liptove region in northern Slovakia. It lies around 260km from the Slovakian capital Bratislava.

Serbia is in talks with China for construction of the Preljina - Boljare section of the pan-European Corridor XI. The section will connect Corridor XI to Corridor X. Corridor XI will run from the Montenegrin port of Bar to Belgrade and on to Bucharest, Romania. Corridor X links Salzburg, Austria, with the Greek Aegean port of Thessaloniki port, via Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Macedonia. This includes the construction of a motorway bypass of Belgrade.

The Vietnamese city of Hanoi is set to benefit from a series of bridge construction projects, which are intended to reduce the city’s chronic traffic congestion. These new bridges will span the Red River and Duong River, which flow through the city. The projects are being planned by the Hanoi city authorities and also include the construction of link roads.