Skip to main content

French budgets trimmed

Reductions in road building budgets are being implemented in various departments in France, in a bid to cut overall spending. In 2009 some €4.5 billion was spent on the road budget, compared with €3.9 billion planned for 2012.
March 16, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Reductions in road building budgets are being implemented in various departments in France, in a bid to cut overall spending. In 2009 some €4.5 billion was spent on the road budget, compared with €3.9 billion planned for 2012. Various local authorities were able to make small cuts in roads budgets until now. However the budget reductions are now becoming more direct as local authorities are seeing their resources fall and social costs rise. Looking ahead through 2012, the outlook is not favourable and for example in Calvados department, three projects for dual carriageways have already been cancelled which is expected to have a corresponding impact on the contracting sector.

Related Content

  • Global growth in machine rental
    May 20, 2015
    The machine rental sector is undergoing significant expansion worldwide – Dan Gilkes reports. Plant hire, equipment rental, leasing, call it what you will, being able to use a machine when and where you need it, with no further concerns relating to ownership costs, depreciation or sudden repair bills, remains a compelling argument for many contractors. Which is one of the main reasons for the continued growth in popularity of equipment rental across the world. Rental has been big business in the UK, the US
  • Construction materials and road design in East Africa
    June 25, 2013
    An envisaged shortage in the supply of angular rock or crushed stone in Tanzania and a determination to conserve the environment by Kenyan authorities dictated the engineering design of a multi-national road linking the two largest economies in Eastern Africa. Shem Oirere reports The cost of buying crushed stone or hiring a site for mining the material and the expenses of moving it from the crushing site to the project area, saw designers opt for an intermediate alignment and discarding of the inner and out
  • ALARM Survey: UK maintenance backlog continues despite funding boost
    March 23, 2016
    Highways departments in England and Wales have yet to feel the benefit of the UK government’s commitment to spend €7.6 billion (£6 billion) on local road maintenance between 2015 and 2021. In fact, overall road budgets have dropped by 16%, according to the annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey of highway bosses in England and Wales, conducted by the Asphalt Industry Alliance. This is reflected in the increase in average budget shortfalls – the difference between the money needed to ma
  • Disagreement in Germany over new road funding plans
    February 24, 2016
    There is major disagreement in Germany over plans for a new approach to financing road development proposed by the government. The authorities in the states are objecting to the government proposal to open a road fund, which will be responsible for building and maintaining the major routes roads and which would be able to award contracts to private companies. The federal states currently have responsibility for the road-building work with, funding coming from central sources and they do not want to lose inf