Finance & Funding

Infrastructure engineering firm WS Atkins sold its stake in London’s M25 orbital road to a consortium of institutional investors for nearly €79 million (£66.3 million). Atkins, a publicly listed UK company, sold to Edge Orbital Holdings 2 Limited and the deal for its minority stake is expected to be complete by March 2017, the end of the financial year, according to a statement by Atkins. In October, the Edge Orbital consortium picked up Skanska’s 40% stake in Connect Plus, which manages the M25. Skanska so

The Czech government is to speed up motorway building in 2017, with 140km of new roads planned. The announcement comes as the country is looking at a new laws designed to streamline infrastructure tendering and to improve construction management, according to CIJ – Construction and Investment Journal. Projects can sometimes take as long as 12 years to get off the ground, the journal reported. Skanska boss Michal Jurka, the head of Skanska in the Czech Republic and Slovakia since September, said p

Plans are well underway in Myanmar for a new bridge connecting Thanlyin and Yangon. The project is expected to be complete by 2022 and is expected to cost US$302 million. The link will be tolled and will carry an estimated 5,000 vehicles/day when it opens to traffic. A loan facility from Japan is expected to pay for the majority of the project. An international contractor will carry out the main portion of the project, although sub-contracting will be carried out by local firms.

A loan of US$100 million will help pay for a bridge spanning the Volta River in Ghana.

US transportation solutions provider McCain has recently completed the first deployment of its low-voltage 350i ATC cabinet for the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) in an effort to improve congestion and traffic flow at a troublesome dual-intersection location. The McCain low-voltage 350i ATC Cabinet was delivered to GDOT by local McCain distributor, Utilicom Supply Associates and offers GDOT the ability to control up to 32 channels, twice the industry norm. Powered by Schneider Electric's inn

Argentina is receiving a loans from the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) worth US$300 million for road improvements. The loan will be used to widen and improve roads across the country and is for 25 years with a grace period of 4.5 years. The Argentina Government will provide a further $200 million for road development projects. Planned projects include a new 120km dual carriageway as well as work to a 35.4km section of National Route 19 in Cordoba Province. Meanwhile around half of Salta Province

Construction is starting on a major bridge building programme in Ghana. The project is intended to boost connectivity in the country, with the work being funded partly through a loan provided by the Spanish Government. The new bridge is expected to take nine months to complete and will connect Akwatia with Kusi. Once the bridge is in use it will help cut journey times in the country’s eastern region. The bridge building programme will help improve transport and aid in developing trade and economic developme

A new highway project in Nepal will benefit from a loan provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The loan is worth nearly US$187 million. It will be used to help upgrade the country’s East-West Highway. In addition, the loan will will also be used to improve other key sections of Nepal’s road network. Key stretches of the 45km Bhairahawa-Taulihawa road as well as the 115km Narayanghat-Butwal road will be upgraded. Separate funding from the ADB will pay for technical assistance to Nepal’s Department of

Ritchie Bros is celebrating its 20th anniversary in the United Arab Emirates with a Dubai auction on December 13th and 14th, 2016. Over 1,700 machines and trucks from the Middle East region will go under the hammer at the two-day unreserved auction. Bids can be made in person at the auction site, online at rbauction.com and by proxy. Ritchie Bros has so far held 72 auctions in Dubai, selling over 120,000 lots and registering more than 40,000 bidders in its 20 years of operations in the country. Equipment