Finance & Funding

The tender process is commencing for a major desert highway upgrade project in Jordan.

A new freeway project is planned in Phoenix, Arizona. The joint venture for this design-build and maintain project will be led by Fluor Corporation. The package of works was awarded by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and is for the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway. This freeway project will be the first procured under Arizona’s public-private-partnership statute.

In Colombia plans are now in hand for a major highway improvement project. Concesión Pacífico Tres is joint concession operator of the tolled links for Colombia’s major commercial regions connecting with the Pacific port hub. US firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has provided advice to Colombian Concessionaire Concesión Pacífico Tres SAS and its sponsors, MHC Ingeniería y Construcción de Obras Civiles and Construcciones El Cóndor, and Costa Rica’s infrastructure company Constructora MECO. The advice was

The Mexican Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT) says that the US$6.98 billion budget cut made by the Federal Government will impact on infrastructure projects. According to the SCT, the completion of 20 road initiatives will be delayed while the body will also downsize its workforce. In a bid to redress the balance, the SCT will seek public-private partnerships (PPPs) to continue with certain infrastructure projects.

Construction firm STRABAG says that its performance in the 2015 financial year was ‘satisfactory’ and that its outlook for 2016 is positive. “We closed an overall satisfactory year in 2015 with a higher output volume on nearly unchanged employee levels and a lower order backlog. In 2016 we want to maintain the output volume at its high level and raise our EBIT margin to 3%. Thanks to our improved risk management and cost reductions, we are confident that we will reach this goal after having also succeeded i

An upswing is being seen in construction machine sales in Italy, according to the latest official figures. The data from the Samoter-Prometeia Observatory reveal increases in key markets. Gains have been seen in Europe (+7.7%), Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey (+3.7%), North America (+23.1%), Central and South America (+6.3%), Middle East (+26.3%), Asia (+28.7%), Australia (+23.5%) and Africa (+2.5%). However the figures also show another sharp fall in Russia (-62.8%).

Progress is being made in Chile for two key mega projects, the Chacao Bridge and the El Melon Tunnel. Chile's Ministry of Public Works (MOP) has ordered the consortium working on the Chacao Bridge project to carry out additional studies. The consortium comprises Systra, OAS, Aas-Jakobsen and Hyundai and the project is worth US$511.45 million. The consortium has to respond to observations made by the MOP on the design proposal presented in August 2014. The works to build the bridge now look likely to continu

Canada-based Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers has acquired the online equipment listing service Mascus International Holding for US$26.6 million in cash. The deal gives Ritchie Bros. 100% of the equity in Mascus, subject to working capital adjustments under the terms of the share purchase agreement. Mascus will continue to operate under its branding and management team. The company lists more than 360,000 items for sale and gets around 3.2 million monthly website visits across 58 countries and in 42 language