Finance & Funding

Tunisia has major plans to upgrade its road network, with work due to commence in 2016. The Tunisian Government has said it intends to modernise 718km of roads across the country. The aim is to widen roads to 7.6m so that they meet international standards. The scheme will cover 21 governorates. Five national roads will be upgraded with a total distance of 105km, while 20 regional roads covering a distance of 320km will be updated. The project will also improve 20 local roads with a total distance of 294km.

Publically listed Strabag has won the design and build contract to build a 24km section of Poland’s S6 for €83 million. The S6 expressway links the largest cities in northern Poland, Szczecin and Gdańsk. The publicly listed construction group Strabag will design and build the section between Goleniów and Koszalin for about €83 million. Construction of the 24 km dual carriageway asphalt road with two lanes of traffic in each direction will start this month with a scheduled finish of June 2019. The cont

The first part of the €600 million Arber Dzaferi motorway between Pristina, the capital of Kosovo and Skopje in Macedonia, has opened to traffic. US-Turkish consortium Bechtel Enka is contractor for the 60km road that will eventually link Pristina, capital of the former Serbian province Kosovo, and the city of Skopje, capital of Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic. The road - numerically Route 6 – is Kosovo’s second motorway and is named after the prominent Albanian intellectual and politician from

A series of major road rebuilding projects in Bolivia look likely to be handled by Chinese contractors. The Bolivian Government is deciding on the Chinese firms that will carry out road infrastructure works in the country. This decision follows from a loan provided via the Chinese Government loan worth US$7.5 billion. There have been criticisms of the link between the loan and Chinese firms being allowed a greater chance of winning repair contracts. But this has been deflected by the Bolivian Government, wh

Skanska has won the T02 Sørkjosfjell Tunnel Contract as part of the government’s Highway E6 improvement project in the county of Troms, northern Norway. Norway’s rail administrator Statens Vegvesen awarded the €50 million contract for the 4.6km Sørkjosen Tunnel -- its common name -- and work is scheduled for completion in July 2018. According to the OJEU document Contract T01 consists of the open air road from the breakwater in Sørkjosen to tunnel portaling at Mølnerelva, a length of 870m, as well as

Investment bank Bankia and Spanish construction firm FCC have sold their 50-50 joint venture infrastructure management firm Globalvia to three pension funds for €420 million. Madrid-based Bankia and FCC -- Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, based in Barcelona -- said their decision to sell their holdings was part of their plans to divest non-strategic businesses. Globalvia manages public-private partnerships, of which 90% are in Spain. Purchasers are UK-based USS, OPTrust in Canada and Netherlands-ba

India will carry out a feasibility study on a road link between Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu state and Thalaimannar in Sri Lanka, a federal government minister has said. "It needs the consent of both countries,” said Union minister of state for road transport, highways and shipping, Pon Radhakrishnan. “The project needs to be discussed at various levels," according to a brief report by India’s Hindu newspaper. Radhakrishnan told the reporters that federal government had begun consultations to carry out a

Costa Rica’s road agency Conavi has extended the deadline and increase funds by $154 million for road repair and maintenance contracts. Contracts will be extended for the companies involved which include Constructora Meco, Grupo Orosi, Quebradores del Sur, Constructora Hernan Solis and Conansa. The Treasury Inspector's Office made the announcement, according to El Pais newspaper. Meanwhile, four banks are considering an investment in the 60km San Jose-San Ramon Road Expansion Project. They include

Chile has shelved a proposal for a new road route between the inland capital of Santiago and the Pacific Ocean port of Valparaiso through the mountain called La Dormida. The new route, proposed by Grupo Costanera, would have needed a 68km tunnel through La Dormida. Chile’s Ministry of public works was considering a single investor for a package that would have included upgrades to the existing Route 68 between the two cities and also a new route. However, these two projects will remain separate and be

The Asian Development Bank will loan US$800 million to Sri Lanka toward phase three of the country’s Integrated Road Investment Programme. The programme will improve more than 3,100km of rural roads and nearly 250km of national roads at a total cost $906 million. Work will take place in Sabaragamu provinces, Kaluthara District, Central, North Central and North Western Provinces. Sri Lanka recently announced that $292 million has been secured from the Japan International Cooperation Agency for a new