Finance & Funding

A colossal road construction plan has been revealed by China’s Yunnan Province. The authorities have revealed that the new infrastructure programme calls for the addition of a further 1,500km of highways. To achieve this, a budget of some US$24.17 billion has been set for the 2014-2015 period. With this road development programme in place the authorities have estimated that by the end of 2015 the province will have a highway network comprising some 4,500km in total.

A series of major road construction projects are underway in Colombia at present. The country’s national roads institute, Invias, is currently investing in excess of US$646 million on an array of road projects at the moment. One key project is for the construction of a new highway connecting Loboguerrero and Buenaventura. Another important project is for the construction of a new bridge connecting Buenaventura with Cascajal Island, which is due for completion in the second half of this year.

Mexico’s road development programme for 2014 is well on track. According to the Secretariat of Communications and Transport in (SCT), some 92% of the budget set for road projects in 2014 has already been implemented. The SCT is now moving forward with its plans for road projects in 2015. The tender process for major contracts will be opening from mid-November 2014. A budget of some US$1.92 billion is being planned for road projects in 2015, a significant increase from the $1.15 billion set for 2014. The fir

Hexagon Geosystems, a division of Hexagon AB, is acquiring French company Geodata Diffusion SAS. This deal further develops the portfolio of Hexagon Geosystems in design, measurement and visualisation technologies. With this move the company becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Hexagon. Headquartered in Arpajon, near Paris (France), Geodata Diffusion is a major provider of network RTK correction services to the surveying segment through its Orphéon network of GNSS permanent stations. The Orphéon network cov

Bolivia has a major programme of highway expansion and improvements underway at present in a plan designed to improve the country’s transport links. The programme includes 16 double-lane highways being built, costing some US$1.85 billion in all. The work is being managed by the state-run road administration company ABC. The roads will improve connections to La Paz, Oruro, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. The road between La Paz and Oruro is 80% finished. The other projects will be finished between 2015 and 2018.

Financing has been found for a major highway upgrade project for Pakistan. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is lending US$197 million to Pakistan’s National Highway Development Project for Balochistan. The loan will be used to upgrade the Zhob-Mughal Kot and Qila Saifullah Waghum highways. At present these highways feature just two lanes, but the improvement works will see them being widened and improved, so as to increase capacity and also upgrade safety. The wider aim of the project is to help generate ec

A loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) worth US$800 million will help pay for a series of major road upgrades in Sri Lanka. The remaining $106 million required for the project will be provided by the Sri Lankan Government. The funding will pay for works to 2,200km of provincial and local roads as well as 400km of national roads. The work will help provide proper road connections to around 1,000 villages, with the loan being supplied in a series of payments. The first $100 million payment will be made

A loan worth US$500 million from the World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) will help improve road connections in India. The funding will be directed towards India's National Highways Inter-connectivity Improvement Project (NHIIP), a programme of works aimed at improving routes in some rural or remote areas of the country. The NHIIP plan involves upgrading around 1,120km of National Highways in some of the country’s the low-income states such as Bihar, Orissa and Rajasthan

The Indonesian Government is aiming to start work on 16 major infrastructure projects before October 2014. These include the development of Cilamaya Port and its access road at a cost of US$1.25 billion, the Kertajajati and Soekarno-Hatta airport projects and five toll road projects. The toll roads include the Balikpapan-Samarinda connection, the Palu-Parigi link, the Manado-Bitung Toll, the Cibitung-Cilincing road and the Trans Sumatra tolled highway. The Public Works Ministry is offering tenders valued at

Bechtel and its joint-venture partner Enka have won a contract to build a 60km highway connecting Kosovo’s capital Pristina with neighbouring Macedonia. The new Route 6 highway will help improve Kosovo’s transport links, a highly important factor for the future economic development of this small, landlocked nation. Bechtel-Enka previously constructed Kosovo’s Route 7 highway, which was completed in November 2013, a whole year ahead of schedule. The Route 7 highway with Morina on the Albanian border through