Finance & Funding

Uganda is seeking a loan worth US$500 million from China to help pay for road development projects. The loan is being requested from China’s Exim Bank by the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA). Should the loan be secured, it would help pay for improvements works to 580km of roads in Uganda. The new road links will help provide transport to the newly discovered oil reserves in Uganda’s Albertine Rift Basin.

Progress on the UK’s road development programme looks to be falling behind schedule due to a series of problems. The five year plan announced in April 2015 called for 112 major upgrades to key road links in the UK. However the €12.68 billion (£11 billion) programme is now over budget by a worrying €729 million (£841 million). So far only six projects are ahead of schedule or on track, while 19 will be delayed beyond 2020. The programme called for an addition al 2,080km on the smart highways system. There ar

Plans have been drawn up for a new road tunnel in the German town of Oberau, located to the south of Munich in Bavaria.

Work is now well in hand in India on the plans to construct a new highway connecting capital Delhi with Jaipur in Rajasthan. The new highway will measure some 195km long, cutting the route between the two cities by around 40km. The highway will feature six lanes, with three in either direction, and will be tolled. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is at present handling the land acquisition process, a task that can be complex in India. The route runs through 423 villages in seven districts and

The Dutch government will extend the A15 motorway by 12km towards the A12 motorway as part of a new connection between Rotterdam and Germany. Traffic flow in the Arnhem-Nijmegen region will be improved, according to the announcement. The 130km A15 currently ends in a pasture. The new junction of the A12/A15 motorways will be named the De Liemers interchange, the same name as the region through which the road will run. Officially called the A12/A15 Ressen-Oudbroeken, or ViA15, project, the cost will

Interest is proving strong in Colombia’s Pamplona-Cucuta 4G motorway project, which is currently undergoing the tender process. The country’s National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) has had three bids so far for the project. The 62km stretch of road will be built in Colombia’s Norte de Santander department. The project is expected to cost in excess of US$515 million. So far ANI’s bids have come from CCA Civil Colombia, the Colombia-based subsidiary of Spanish contractor Sacyr, as well as the consortium Estruct

Funding for a stretch of the Belgrade ring road project will now be delivered by Chinese sources. The €207 million deal has been agreed between the Serbian Ministry of Construction and the Power Construction Corporation of China. This funding will help with the completion of the 20km ringoad project as a portion of the work has already been carried out.

Paraguay is opening the tender process for construction work on the Alberdi-Pilar road. The tender is being handled by Paraguay’s Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC). Work on the 96km route will include surfacing and the project is expected to cost just over US$131 million. Financing is being provided in the form of a loan from Fonplata. The project will include building six bridges measuring a total of 2.3km, as well as installing hard shoulders and drainage along the route. The work will be

Yanmar is restructuring its construction equipment and compact equipment supply operations in Europe. The firm is integrating the management of its French and German subsidiaries into single organisation. With the sales offices based at Bezannes ing France, Yanmar Compact Equipment will handle sales, marketing and distribution of the firm’s compact equipment, as well as the Schaeff brand machines. These products will be produced in Yanmar’s factories at Saint-Dizier in France, Crailsheim in Germany and

The partnership between Japanese construction machinery firm Kato Works and IHI Corporation has now further developed. IHI Corporation transferred 100% of its stock in IHI Construction Machinery to Kato Works. Meanwhile the Italian-based company IHIMER is now renamed as Kato Heavy Industries Construction Machinery, or Kato Hicom. Following the stock transfers and agreements of the respective boards, the firm is now called KATO IMER.