Finance & Funding

Road works in the Philippines will benefit from funding being provided by Japan.

Funding worth US$500 million has still to be secured for road works in Paraguay. A consortium, Rutas del Este consortium, requires the financing to carry out the widening and upgrade work to Ruta 2 and Ruta 7. The work will be carried out under the PPP model, the first time this has been utilised in Paraguay. Rutas del Este comprises the contractors Sacyr and Ocho A. The consortium will operate the highway under a 30 year concession.

Approval has been given for the project to build the sixth bridge connecting Thailand with Laos.

New road connections will have to be built for the second Parana River crossing in Paraguay. In all around 37km of new road connections will be required, costing US$180 million. This work will also require the construction of two smaller bridges as well as an overpass section. Financing for the work is being provided via the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF).

A new bridge connecting Slovakia with Hungary is under construction at present. Costing €117 million, the bridge spans the River Danube connecting Komarno in Slovakia with Komarom in Hungary. The project has been delayed but the bridge should be ready for traffic in 2020. Funding for the project is being provided by the EU and is being directed through the Slovakian Government and the Hungarian Government.

In Argentina a new loan facility for road projects is now being provided by the Banco de Inversion y Comercio Exterior (BICE). The loan facility will be worth US$100 million and will be offered for projects being handled under the PPP model and with distances of 2,500km or more. This is expected to speed up plans for various PPP projects, with some $6 billion for road concessions planned for the next four years. A number other funding sources are being developed but are yet to be finalised.

A massive programme of transport infrastructure development is planned by Indonesia’s current administration. A budget of US$27.38 billion has been set for this work in 2019, an increase of 1% from the budget set for 2018. Work will be carried out to improve and/or upgrade 2,007km of roads and 27,067km of bridges under the plans. The programme also calls for the construction of four near airports and improvements to 415km of rail lines, as well as other infrastructure improvements.

A loan will help pay for a new highway project in India’s Chhattisgarh State. The US$350 million loan is being provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In all the highway is expected to cost $521.7 million, with the remaining $171.7 million being provided by the Indian Government. The new highway is expected to boost trade and transport in the state.

Road safety improved in France during 2018, compared with 2017. There were 3,488 road fatalities recorded in France during 2018, a drop of 5.3% compared with the previous year. This comes in spite of a gradual increase in traffic volumes in France, up 7% from 2013 for example. The data comes from the official body, Sécurité Routière. According to Sécurité Routière, the reduction in speed limits on France’s secondary road network has had a key benefit to overall road safety. The highest risk roads in France

Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Works and Transports (MOPT) is planning 110 road improvement projects, with a total cost of US$144 million. Construction will start on the first 14 of these in July 2019, with the work being carried out by the contractor MECO. Funding for the work is being provided by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in the shape of a loan. The tender processes for a further 10 projects are commencing, with tenders for an additional 18 projects due to commence in July 2019.