Finance & Funding

The Kenyan government will pay nearly US$557 million (€446 million) annually to contractors for building 10,000km of roads over eight years. A special annuity fund was also set up to fund road construction that will be under a new private finance initiative programme. The work, to be done in phases, will start by the end of this year. The first phase is for 3,000km, of which 1,940km will be managed by Kenya Rural Roads Authority and 365km by Kenya Urban Roads Authority. Kenya Highways Authority wil

The Polish province of Lodzkie has signed a territorial contract that will allow construction of the Pyrzowice to Tuszyn section of the national A1 motorway. Territorial contracts are agreements between the central and regional governments in order to allow investment in key projects, such as roads. Around 90 projects worth in total US$7.63 billion will benefit from the contract. Apart from the 140km A1 motorway section, projects include rail line upgrades, Wielun and Belchatow ring roads hospital extensio

IronPlanet, a US-based on online marketplace for buying and selling used heavy equipment, has acquired Kruse Energy and Equipment Auctioneers for an undisclosed sum. Kruse is based in Odessa, Texas, and Oklahoma City and focuses on oilfield equipment. It conducts auctions in the United States and Canada. Kruse has conducted more than 90% of the energy auctions in the United States in the past 25 years. Kruse will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of IronPlanet, maintaining its brand and employees. Co-

Angloa will build a 26km ring road to connect the cities of Quilemba and Eywa in the southwestern province of Huila. The 9m wide road will cost around US$43.24 million and be completed in 18 months, Angola’s national news agency ANGOP reported. The governor of Huila, João Marcelino Tyipinge, announced the project in Lubango, capital city of the province. Anglo recently announced that the final stretch of the road from the national capital Luanda on the southern coast to the strategic city of Soyo in the

The government of Tenerife said it is looking for investors to come up with around $32 million (€25.7m) to construct and run the proposed Circuit de Tenerife racing track. The tender, to manage the 4.07km track for 40 years but which could be extended to 46, was opened in September and will close on February 3. Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, part of Spain but an autonomous region lying off the northwest African coast. The island, with around 2,030km2 has arou

The Bashkortostan Republic (Volga) in western Russia could issue a tender for the Ufa Eastern exit road project by the end of the year. Government authorities in Bashkortostan said they and VEB (Vnesheconombank) are completing a feasibility study of the Ufa Eastern exit road project. The project, expected to cost around $591 million, involves completion of an underground tunnel to the Ufa River, a bridge and a road to the M5 motorway. The exit road will be about 14km. Transport infrastructure will be

Vietnam is considering selling its ownership in several major highways to help pay for more road projects. The Ministry of Transport (MoT) recently said that the government’s infrastructure investor body Vietnam Infrastructure Development and Finance Investment (VIDIFI), would sell 70% of its ownership in the Hanoi–Hai Phong Highway project to a buyer from India. The move is part of a strategy that could see Vietnam sell off more of its investment in highway projects, either under construction or complete

Jakarta Tollroad Development (JTD) has said it aims to start construction of the six Jakarta inner city toll roads in the middle of next year. The project, nearly 70km in total and much of it elevated, is at the detailed engineering design stage. The toll roads will connect all five of Jakarta’s municipalities. The first construction stage involving the Semanan-Sunter-Pulogebang toll road is expected to US$1.20 billion. Total cost for the whole project is estimated at up to $3.2 billion. According to

The Italian construction equipment manufacturer body Unacea has revealed comprehensive information on machine sales and exports. The data shows that construction machine sales in Italy grew 12% in the first nine months of 2014. However exports fell 7% and Unacea believes that the export performance of Italian manufacturers on the world market will have shrunk by the end of the year compared with the figures for 2013. Over the first nine months of 2014, construction equipment sold in the Italian market sto

Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) reported 9% improvement in North American sales for the third quarter 2014. However, the manufactures said it was not enough to overcome uncertainty and negative growth elsewhere. Net sales in the three months July to September increased to US$1,735 million (SEK 12,582 million), up from $1,692 million (SEK12,278 million) for the same period last year. However, when adjusted for currency movements, net sales were down by 3% during the period. Volvo’s statement said “