Finance & Funding

Funding is now secured for the Budimir-Bidovce stretch of Slovakia’s D1 highway project. In addition, the funding for the Kosicke Olsany-Hrasovik stretch of the R2-R4 expressway has been secured. The EU’s Cohesion Fund will supply €173 million for the work, which is intended to cut congestion and journey times. New interchanges and noise reduction systems will be built. Also included will be the construction of 23 new bridges.

As many as 25,000 bridges in France are considered in poor condition according to research. In a bid to tackle the problem, there have been calls for an annual budget of €120 million for the next 10 years to improve bridge condition. There are an estimated 200,000-250,000 bridges in France. An additional fund of €130 million/year is proposed to tackle the problem of ageing tunnels in France.

Bosnia is investigating a series of road financing solutions. The country intends to borrow €150 million to construct the Corridor 5C highway project. A loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is expected to provide much of the financing required, however the terms have still to be finalised.

The proposed Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link project in Sydney, Australia is coming in for renewed focus. Financing institutions are being invited by the New South Wales State Government to enter discussions over providing backing for the project. The new route will be one of the largest motorway construction projects for Australia should it get the go ahead. The work could cost US$9.9 billion (A$14 billion).

Astec Industries has appointed Barry Ruffalo as its president and chief executive officer, effective on August 12th, 2019. Ruffalo has also been elected to the board of directors. He will join the board of directors as a Class I director and will stand for re-election at the Company’s 2020 annual meeting. On the effective date of Ruffalo’s appointment, Richard Dorris, interim chief executive officer, will resume his role as chief operating officer. Prior to his appointment, Ruffalo was employed by Valmont

A finance package has been secured for Colombia’s Pasto-Rumichaca fourth generation (4G) road project. A loan package worth US$$593.6 million from a series of backers will underscore the project. These are; the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Spain's credit institute Instituto de Credito Oficial (ICO), JP Morgan, MetLife, Banco Santander, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Credit Agricole, and Bank of China. The project is for work to an 83km section of the route, incl

The UK’s Department for Transport is providing £348 million of funding to help improve local roads over the next four years. This funding will be available for local authorities to bid for, allowing them to work on major maintenance projects, as well as on projects that will ease congestion on the UK’s busiest roads. This announcement follows a £6.6 billion investment in local road maintenance in the last five years The funding will be available in two stages for local authorities to bid for in an effort t

Chinese companies look likely to play key roles in major expressway construction projects in Thailand. The Rama III-Dao Khanong-Western Bangkok Outer Ring Expressway project is being handled in four separate sections, with the deals being finalised in September 2019. Major Chinese contractors are amongest the leading bidders for three of the four sections.

Volvo CE reports strong financial performance on the back of healthy sales. The firm says that improvements in the key European and North American markets, coupled with a strong focus on its service business, volume flexibility in the industrial system and tight cost control have helped the company to deliver a good all round performance in its second quarter 2019 results. Net sales in the second quarter increased by 10%, amounting to SEK 26.814 billion, compared with SEK 24.403 billion in Q2 2018. Operati

The tender process is opening in Bosnia for a key tunnel project. The new Racin to Ivan Tunnel section will form part of the important Corridor 5C route. Financing for the project is being provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB). The work is expected to cost €50 million and the project will be managed by Bosnia’s state-owned road business, Autoceste FbiH.