Finance & Funding

An important new highway connection is being planned in the Czech Republic. The road will provide a link between the D8 Teplice highway and the Chomutov expressway. The Czech Transport Ministry has given its approval for an allocation of €166.55 million to the country’s Central Bohemian region for the construction work on the link road. However the project will still have to be approved by the Czech Government. Should the work go ahead, the project will be split into three phases, with construction of the f

A new agreement has been signed that will improve transport links between West African nations. The agreement for the new Lagos Dakar highway has been made by the Economic Community of Western States (Cedeao). In all five memoranda of understanding (MoU) were signed by Cedeao with the Chinese construction and public works company CGCOC Group. These MoU encompass the trans-western African coastal highway, as well as telecoms infrastructure, local civil aviation, railway links and the construction of the new

The Italian manufacturers of construction machines are seeing positive developments in market demand for off highway equipment. In 2015, construction equipment sales in the Italian market increased by 34% to 9,138 units, compared to the previous year. The sales results show that 8,813 earthmoving machines were sold, a growth of 32%, while 325 road machines were sold, a growth of 180%.

IronPlanet and Finning are planning a public auction of construction machines on April 20th 2016. This inaugural European auction will include quality used Caterpillar equipment and will be hosted by Finning. The auction will take at the Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northamptonshire. The event will be the first in a series of quarterly unreserved auction events across locations in the UK, aimed at buyers of used heavy equipment. The on-site auction will be supported by IronPlanet’s online marketplace, all

Spanish infrastructure firm Abertis is keen to develop a series of projects in Chile. In all the projects are worth over US$900 million. Abertis has presented these projects to Chile's Ministry of Public Works. This move follows the acquisition by Abertis of the remaining 50% stock holding in the country's Autopista Central motorway concession. This was bought from Canadian fund manager Alberta Investment Management (AIMCo) for over $1 billion.

French telehandler manufacturer Manitou reports good sales for its fourth quarter in 2015. The firm achieved sales of €333 million for its fourth quarter in 2015, an 8% increase over the same period in 2014. Meanwhile sales for the full-year were also up by 3% in 2015 at €1.287 billion compared with the full-year for 2014. The order intake for its equipment in the fourth quarter of 2015 hit €322 million compared with €298 million in the same period in 2014. And the order book at the end of the fourth quarte

Jakarta’s chronic congestion problems look set to be eased slightly with the construction of two new elevated roads. These will be built over the Semanggi interchange in South Jakarta and work will commence in April 2016, with copmletion expected in 2017. The new links will connect South Jakarta's Kebayoran Baru and Ratu Plaza, East Jakarta's Cawang and West Jakarta's Grogol. The Japanese contractor building the new elevated links has also sourced the necessary funding for the work.

Construction work for a new bridge spanning the Danube River and linking Hungary and Slovakia has been delayed. The work will now commence on the project in September 2016. The new bridge will connect the town of Komarom in Hungary with Komarno in Slovakia. The project was delayed temporarily by changes to procurement rules in Hungary. The bridge is expected to be complete in the second quarter of 2019 and a portion of the funding for the new bridge will be provided by EU sources.

Loans worth a total of US$243 million will help pay for the rebuilding of the Chinsali-Nakonde road in Zambia. The loans are being provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB) based in Ivory Coast and Africa Growing Together Fund. The AfDB is offering a loan of $193 million for the project while the Africa Growing Together Fund is offering $50 million. The Chinsali-Nakonde road is of key importance for trade as it connects Tanzania and Zambia.

Weissenhorn-based company PERI has bought the Silvergreen site in Günzburg. Peri said the location will complement its main plant in Weissenhorn because expansion possibilities there are very limited.