Finance & Funding

A new bridge is planned for St Petersburg. The link will span the Neva River and will form part of the Western High-Speed Radius route. The project is expected to cost US$2.26 billion. The authorities in St Petersburg are currently looking for potential investors in the project as well as an engineering firm able to carry out the detailed planning work necessary.

Germany has a massive backlog of works required on its high speed road network. A report by Germany’s institute for economic research (DIW) says that the backlog of work for the transportation network corresponds will cost in the region of €80 billion to €100 billion to complete. According to the DIW report, around 50% of Autobahn bridges and 20% of Autobahn routes are in a critical state. In addition, German railway company Deutsche Bahn (DB) estimates that there are around 1,400 railway bridges that need

German firm Sennebogen is expanding its manufacturing facilities at its headquarters in Straubing in Bavaria. The firm is extending its production and warehouse areas at the site by around 35,000m². The company is also building a new 6,700m² production shop that will be used for the assembly and painting of large components and for finishing work and quality control. With this investment into the Straubing site located around one hour’s drive to the north of Munich, the company is preparing itself for futur

Indonesia’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing plans to allocate US$415.3 million in 2016 for the Trans Papua road project. The Indonesian Government’s plan is for the link to be ready for use and connecting the whole of Papua by 2019. However in excess of $830 million is required to fund work on the entire 4,325km route. Over 10km of bridges still remain to be constructed along with 827km of roads. Meanwhile of the existing 3,498km of road, only 2,075km are surfaced with asphalt at present while 1,423km

MISK wins tender for Moscow’s Yuzhnaya Rokada road The Moscow Engineering and Construction Company (MISK) has won the tender for construction of the second section of Moscow’s Southern lateral highway. MISK was the only contractors tendering for the contract, worth nearly US$74.3 million, for the section called Yuzhnaya Rokada. Details include construction of 5km of road, essential side lanes, more than 300m of overpasses and turnoffs. Work is expected to take nearly 20 months. The tender win co

The Swiss government has created a fund for street and urban transport works to help ease what it says will be a deficit of around €1.26 billion each year up to by 2030. The fund will be created from a rise in road fuel tax from €0.27 to €0.33. Added money will come from a tax on electric vehicles due to start in 2020 and which will raise around €84 million a year, rising to around €275 million. The road maintenance fund also will receive around €366 million from taxes on imported cars and €320 mil

A series of loans from the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) will help finance transportation projects in Costa Rica. Totaling around US$1 billion, the loans will allow a substantial package of works to get underway. This will be of major importance to Costa Rica as it will unlock several key road and transport projects so far held back by the availability of suitable funding. However, the Costa Rican authorities have yet to announce all the road projects intended for construction. So far only three hi

German engine maker Deutz Group said it will not meet its forecast for the current financial year. A sluggish second quarter with “very low” new orders means revenue is expected to fall by around 20% compared with the forecasted 10% drop, according to a corporate statement. “Consequently, the second half of 2015 will be significantly worse than the first half of the year,” the statement said. “Given the low level of business, Deutz will only be just about break even in terms of EBIT this year. Unt

The minister of equipment, transport and logistics has launched a US$154 million project to improve the road linking Marrakesh to Ouarzazate. The four-year project will be financed two thirds by the equipment ministry and one-third from the provinces through which runs the 146km route. The project includes plans to double a 27km stretch of road between Marrakesh and Aït Ouri, as well as widen the pavement between Tadart and Aït Ourir over 63km. The 81km section between Tichka summit and Ouarzazate

Construction of Adelaide’s Northern Connector project will start early next year after financing was recently agreed between the federal and South Australia state governments. The federal government will pay for 80% - US$562 million - of the cost, with South Australia picking up the remaining 20% of the estimated US$702 million price tag. The road will not be a direct toll highway but the country’s first network fee expressway where trucks are charged on the basis of road use. The road is proposed