News

Work is due to commence shortly on a major highway project in the UAE. Costing in excess of US$136 million the Tripoli Roads Project is being managed by Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). The 12km stretch of highway connects the Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Road with the Emirates Road and will be widened to boost capacity and cut congestion at peak periods. In addition a 5.3km stretch of road will also be built from the Academic City to the Emirates Road, again with the intention of reducing peak per

Chinese contractor China Roads and Bridges Company (CRBC) is spending €194 million to construct a key stretch of Montenegro’s Bar-Boljare highway during 2017. The Exim Bank in China is providing a loan facility worth €889.3 million to Montenegro’s Government to pay for the project. The loan is being provided over a 20-year period. This key stretch of the Bar-Boljare highway is 40km long and presents many technical challenges as it is one of the most complex sections of the route. This stretch will include 1

Argentina is planning two new highway projects to widen and improve key sections of Route 40 and Route 33. A US$291 million project will upgrade a stretch of the existing Route 40 to highway status. The two year project will see the widening of the road between Mendoza and San Juan and the construction work will start in the third quarter of 2017. Argentina’s Transport Ministry has said that the project will be funded by the Federal Government. A second stretch of Route 40 will also be widened and upgraded

Brokk is boosting its range of demolition equipment with the purchase of fellow Scandinavian firm Aquajet. Brokk is a leading manufacturer of remote-controlled demolition machines and its recent acquisition of Aquajet Systems will widen its range of products available. Aquajet is a leading manufacturer of hydrodemolition robots.

The Construction Equipment Association (CEA) reports improvements in UK exports and imports of components and parts for construction and earthmoving machines. According to the CEA report, exports of components and parts showed modest improvements in the fourth quarter of 2016 compared with the third quarter,. This shows a 1.5% increase in weight (tonnes) terms, and an 11.3% increase in value terms.

In 2016, German manufacturers of construction equipment achieved a turnover of €9.3 billion, an increase of 3% compared to 2015. Of note though is that the same period, global sales of construction equipment declined by 1%. German companies managed to perform better than the world market and develop market share. In 2017, they expect another increase in sales by 3%.

Funding has been sourced to pay for widening work on Italy’s important A4 Autostrade. The section from Venice to Trieste will benefit from a finance package worth €600 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Italian bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP). The funding will be supplied to Autovie Venete, the Italian motorway concession firm. This will pay for the construction of third lanes for the highway in either direction, helping boost capacity. The route has been identified as being strate

Nepal’s Kathmandu-Tarai highway now looks likely to be built under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. This is a revision from the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) model previously suggested. Nepal's Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport has announced the change for the project, which had an estimated cost of US$1.04 billion when put forward in 2015. The detailed project report (DPR) for the highway is likely to be set out by consortium, from India. The Nepalese Governm

The organisers of the Samoter construction equipment show and the co-located Asphaltica and Transpotec Logitec events in Verona claim success. Strong visitor attendance for the four day show was recorded, with 84,000 industry professionals from 86 countries entering the turnstiles. The three shows were held for the first time together at the Verona Exhibition Centre, thanks also to an agreement between Fiera Milano and Veronafiere.

Brazilian contractor Odebrecht is facing serious issues with regards to projects in Colombia and Peru. In Colombia the contract to build the Ruta del Sol II highway, at present 54% complete, is being terminated. Odebrecht is one of the partners in the The Consorcio Estructura Plural Promesa de Sociedad Futura Concesionaria Ruta del Sol consortium that was carrying out the contract. The consortium partners have also agreed not to claim for any compensation. In Peru meanwhile there is increasing pressure

Approval has been given for the construction of a new road tunnel in the German town of Starnberg. The €162 million road tunnel project is intended to cut congestion in the town centre but has been the subject of some controversy. The German Federal Government has agreed to a portion of the project’s costs, with the remainder coming from the Bavarian State as well as the local government. Starnberg, located some 30km south west of Bavaria’s capital Munich, is reputed to be the wealthiest town in Germany, so

Work to replace the Guanape Bridge in Venezuela is now commencing. The existing structure collapsed on the 24th January of this year, injuring eight people, but is too severely damaged to be rebuilt. The bridge was built in 2011 so its collapse has been the subject of some controversy. Building the new two lane structure will cost an estimated US$312 million and should be complete by the middle of 2017.

Revisions to a bypass project in Slovakia will help reduce the construction costs. The Prešov bypass is now being built with just two lanes, which will cut the construction costs by some€200 million. The project was initially expected to cost as much as €900 million and was criticised for its expense. Further plans for a tunnel at the northern end of the bypass are being discussed at present. Meanwhile revisions to the traffic system in Prešov are expected to bring further savings to the construction projec