Finance & Funding

South Korea has announced a programme of works that will see the country’s national road network being extended by over 900km. The budget of US$6.41 billion for the work has been set by the South Korean Government. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has drawn up the plans for the work which will include upgrades and extensions to 73 stretches of road in all. During the first six months of 2017 around 60% of the budget should be used for the necessary road construction activity. One of the ma

The tender for Lodz's €372 million Western Ring-Road (Zachodnia Obwodnica Lodzi) has attracted 17 bidders, according to Polish media. Construction has been split into two parts: a 12.2km section between the Lodz-Lublinek junction and the Lodz Teofilow junction and a section of 16.3km section from Lodz Teofilow to Slowik, excluding the Emilia junction. Budimex has reportedly made the lowest offer in both contract contests. Polish media also reported that €530 million from the European Union’s Cohesi

Slovakia’s D4/R7 zero bypass of Bratislava has picked up the Best Transaction in Europe award given by the UK magazine Project Finance International. The Ministry of Transport and Construction received the award in London in early February. The ministry said that the contract is notable for being the first whereby a project had combined funding from European Union investment and structural funds and the EU fund for strategic investment. World Highways reported in January that construction will start early

Sri Lanka’s of Central Expressway project is well underway, with Phase II now being planned, Funding worth close to US$154.4 million is being delivered jointly by the People's Bank and the National Savings Bank in the shape of loans. The Section II of the project will measure nearly 40km in length and will run between Meerigama and Kurunegala. As much of this section of the route is on comparatively flat terrain, the work is expected to be less challenging from a technical viewpoint than other stretches pla

Three toll road projects are being planned in Indonesia. Financing for the projects is being provided through the Indonesia Infrastructure Guarantee. In all, the three projects are worth a total of US$2.17 billion. The toll roads are from Tebing Tinggi to Parapat, from Cileunyi-Sumedang to Dawuan and from Serang to Panimbang. The contracts are expected to be signed in March 2017.

The Ugandan Government has unveiled plans to improve its road connections with its northern neighbour South Sudan. To fund the construction project, the Ugandan Government has been seeking a loan worth US$210 million from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). The terms of the loan arrangements have yet to be revealed however. The aim of the project is to improve the road link running through Rwekunye, Apac, Lira and Acholibur. Better transport links form part of a much wider programme of integration between E

India is setting its sights on a huge programme of works to upgrade its transport network. The Indian Government has plans to allocate a massive US$58.17 billion to develop transport systems within the country. Road and highways will be amongst the transport systems benefiting from the investment. Some 2,000km of coastal highways will be developed under the plans, along with a series of other highway projects commencing. $2.2 billion is being invested in upgrading 1,253km of roads in Assam. These roads will

The French government has inked an agreement with infrastructure groups Vinci, APRR and Sanef for a major €800 million motorway investment plan. The agreement encompasses 32 upgrading projects for highway interchanges and 25 construction projects to provide motorway service stops devoted to car-pooling. Minister of State for Transport Alain Vidalies, who signed the agreement, said the first projects could start by the end of this year. Work will be paid for partly from toll increases between 0.1-0.4%

Improving sales of construction machines by Italian manufacturers are resulting in greater business confidence amongst these firms. According to the Italian construction machine manufacturing association, UNACEA, the machine sales figures for 2016 saw a notable improvement over the results for 2015. During 2016, 10,984 construction machines of various types were sold in the Italian market. This was a 26% increase over the numbers sold in the previous year. The UNACEA data shows that 10,517 earthmoving machi