Finance & Funding

The Indonesian Government is looking to source funding for a key highway project from the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The funding will be used for the highway connecting North and East Kalimantan. This project is expected to cost US$250 million.

Belgium is considering tolling options as a mean to fund necessary road and tunnel developments and upgrades. The Brussels region is expected to spend between €500 million and €1 billion in order to update a series of key tunnel connections, with tolling being considered to raise a part of the funds required. A toll could be applied for the Léopold II tunnel during peak hours. According to Belgian consultancy company Stratec, traffic congestion could be reduced in Brussels by implementing an area charge dur

The provincial British Columbia government in western Canada has chosen a Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain (DBFOM) procurement model for the Vancouver region’s 10-lane bridge replacement for the ageing Massey Tunnel. The US$2.5 billion project includes a bridge and related Highway 99 improvements between Bridgeport Road in the adjacent city of Richmond and Highway 91 in the city of Delta. The 60-year-old tunnel now carries its limit of 80,000 vehicles a day and is often congested during rush hours.

India’s Ministry of Transport and Highways is looking to source loans to help fund highway development. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) looks set to provide a partial source for the funding required. In all just over US$885 million will be needed to pay for India’s National Highway Development Project (NHDP). The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has approved a loan of just over $590 million for the Indian Government-run National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corp (NH

A legal battle is underway in Japan regarding allegations of rigged tendering for road rebuilding projects. The allegations related to a series of road projects carried out to repair routes damaged by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami that occurred in March 2011. A series of road building firms had their offices raided by the Japan Fair Trade Commission and the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, which were looking for evidence of any wrongdoing. Three firms in particular are alleged to have been ins

The Indian Government has announced plans for major road projects in Bihar, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu. A 222km road upgrade project will expand the National Highway 2 in Bihar and Jharkhand. The work is expected to cost around US$725.5 million and involves widening the route to six lanes, with three in either direction. The stretch of the NH – 2 planned for this upgrade will run from the Aurangabad Bihar/Jharkhand Border - Barwa Adda. Nine roads in the state of Tamil Nadu will be upgraded, with the work expe

Mexico is on track to complete works on 20 new motorways and 26 additional roads by the end of 2016. The Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT) has further plans to develop 52 new motorways and 90 roads under its infrastructure programme during the current administration, which concludes in 2018. These infrastructure projects are intended to turn Mexico into a global logistics hub. The Mexico-Toluca, Mexico-Cuernavaca and Mexico-Puebla motorways are amongst the projects due to see major progress

Plans are being drawn up for a major programme of road paving work in Brazil’s mato Grosso State. The plans are being made the by the state authorities and involve paving around 10,000km of roads by 2018. The work is expected to cost in the region of US$2.48 billion. Because of the scale of the work, this exceeds state funds. Some 530km of roads in the state were paved in 2015, with a plan to pave 930km in 2016. The financing sources for the paving works have yet to be finalised. In addition a number of o

The Peruvian investment promotion agency ProInversion says that it will not award contracts for all of the projects programmed for 2016. These are worth a total of US$1.29 billion and focus on transport and communications. Peru’s Association for the Promotion of National Infrastructure (AFIN) says that a reason for the delay to the works may be attributed to the impending end of term for Peru’s present administration. An incoming government may then opt to launch tenders for projects on the list for 2016 as

The Czech Republic is looking to cut construction costs for a 32km stretch of the D4 Pribram-Pisek highway between Milin and Mirotice. As a result the route will be constructed under public-private partnership (PPP) model. The total investment in the project is some €919.92 million. The construction work is expected to commence in the second half of 2016. The 32km stretch will take five years to complete. The road will be built under a concession model with the concession lasting for 25 years. The Czech Tra