Finance & Funding

Mexico’s Nuevo Leon state will benefit from a budget of US$455.4 million for infrastructure works during 2017. However this is a drop of 16% from the budget allotted for 2016. The funding will be split between road maintenance and building new roads, with a key project being work on the Saltillo-Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo road. Meanwhile the elevated interconnection road linking the Periferico Sur motorway with the Tlalpan toll booth in Mexico City is seen as crucial to helping develop tourism, protecting th

The Australian state of Victoria will benefit from US$2.26 billion (A$3 billion) in funding for planned road projects. This financing will be split equally by the Federal Government and the Victoria State Government. Some $520 million (A$690 million) will be spent on regional and rural road projects while $753.3 million (A$1 billion) will be used to upgrade the Monash Freeway as well as for other works including improving the M80 Ring Road.

President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, announced that the national government will implement the Strategic Mobility Plan until 2030, which will require public and private investments of USD 38bn (EUR 33.83bn). The Minister of Transport and Public Works, Boris Cordova, further added that the primary objective of the initiative will be to expand some of the national routes and to convert them into motorways, in order to accommodate the mounting logistical needs of the growing national economy. With the projects

Turkish highway authorities will tender construction of the remaining part the Izmir-Menemen-Aliaga-Candarli motorway on 15 February. The contract will be build-operate-transfer for the 76km section between the towns of Aliaga and Candarli. Constructions is expected to take three years. The 16km section between Izmir and Menemen is already finished, according to Turkish media. Up to 60,000 vehicles a day are projected to use the highway from Izmir to Candarli. It is officially called the Otoyol 30

The cost for completing the three toll road sections of the Trans-Sumatra project will be almost US$1.7 billion, according to a major Indonesian construction firm. Hutama Karya is working on the 140km stretch from Bakauheni-Terbangi Besar, the 28km Palembang-Simpang Indralya section and the 18km Medan-Binjai stretch, said the company’s managing director, Gusti Ngurah Putera The Trans-Sumatran Highway is the primary north-south road, running around 2,500km on the island of Sumatra. It connect the north

The Australian city of Melbourne has laid out plans for a US$1.4 billion public-private partnership to revamp major city streets. Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and, with around 4.6 million people, the second most populous city in Australia. Some areas of Melbourne are growing by up to 6% a year. More than 700km of suburban roads will be upgraded by 2022 as part of the 20-year construction and maintenance package, said state premier Daniel Andrews. Eight h

The mayor of the Colombian capital Bogota, Enrique Penalosa, said he is confident of securing nearly US$4 billion for eight infrastructure projects, including roads. Money will come from selling a 20% stake in the energy firm Empresa de Energia de Bogota and privatisation of the local communications firm Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota. Major infrastructure projects include construction of an underground metro system, several feeder roads, the new Carrera 7 route for the Transmilenio bus rapid

German engine manufacturer DEUTZ said it had a “very encouraging increase” in operating profit for the first three quarters of 2016. EBIT – earnings before interest and tax – stood at €19.7 million, significantly higher than the figure for the prior-year period of €10.6 million. DEUTZ said that this was due, in particular, to a decrease in depreciation and amortisation. Consequently, the EBIT margin almost doubled to reach 2.1%. Net income for the first nine months of 2016 was €18.8 million, compa

Light and compact equipment manufacturer Wacker Neuson Group saw revenue and earnings for the third quarter of 2016 increase relative to 2015. The company said that seen over a nine-month period, revenue remained at the prior-year level, balancing out the drop in earnings experienced during the first half of the year only partly. Despite adverse market factors, including ongoing crises in many emerging markets and key industries such as the agricultural sector, the oil and gas industry and mining, gro

It’s live onsite auction day in Donington, UK and it’s noisy. It’s also raining in early morning but that doesn’t put off the gathering crowd Buyers are milling around parked machinery. They kick tyres and slam doors. Some are behind the wheel, gingerly nudging vehicles frontwards and backwards or raising and lowering booms. Their partners stand a few metres away scrutinising the machine’s movements.