News

A new programme of works planned by the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) will see the upgrading and surfacing of 372km of roads in the country. The ERA signed a series of contracts with a number of construction firms, both from Ethiopia and from overseas. The firms that will handle the road building activity are; Ethiopian Defense Construction, China Railway Engineering, China Wuyi, Eney Construction, Yotek Construction and FAL General Contractor. The programme of works is worth close to US$289 million in al

Two Italian contractors will handle a bridge project in Botswana. The US$93 million project will be carried out by a joint venture comprising the construction firm Cimolai and Itinera. The 1.1km-long bridge is to be built in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, providing a new link for vehicles and pedestrians. The new bridge will replace an existing link built on pontoons and is expected to open to traffic in 2019. The Okavango Delta is a large and swampy area of the country that experiences seasonal flooding and wh

Construction work for Kenya’s 117km Malindi-Sala Gate Road is proceeding on track. The project should be complete in the third quarter of 2019, with one 10km stretch being finished at present. The work is costing US$40.5 million and will improve the C103 connection between Malindi, a centre for Kenya’s tourist sector, with the Tsavo East National Park. The town of Malindi lies on Kenya’s coastline and is around 120km to the northeast of Kenya’s premier port of Mombasa. The road from Malindi to the town of T

In Western Australia, plans are in hand to construct a 3km tunnel that will form a stretch of the Perth Freight Link project. The tunnel will run between the Stirling Highway and High Street in Fremantle to the Hilton's Stock-Winterfold Road intersection. In addition, the tunnel will also become a stretch of the Roe 9 highway extension project. The Perth Freight Link project is worth US$1.43 billion (A$1.9 billion) in all. Meanwhile a consortium is carrying out work on the NorthLink WA second phase contr

Plans are being put forward for a 14km highway project in Laos capital Vientiane. The aim of the project would be to help ease the city’s chronic congestion problems. The proposals call for the construction of a six lane highway, carrying three lanes of traffic in either direction. The proposed route runs from Xaysettha district's Lao International Trade Exhibition and Convention Centre (Lao-ITECC) to Xaythany district's Dongmakkhai village, alongside the existing Kaysone Phomvihane Road. The project ha

Paraguay’s Ministry of Public Works and Communications is awarding a major package of works to widen two key highway routes. The construction work will be carried out on Route 2 and for Route 7 and involves adding extra lanes and improving safety, in a bid to boost capacity as well as protection measures for road users. Construction of the US$520 million package is expected to commence in mid-2017, with the work being carried out under the PPP model. Route 2 is also known as the Mariscal Jose Felix Estigarr

Parsons is heading the project to build the I-40 White River Bridge and approaches in the US state of Arkansas. The contract is to build a 1.92km bridge for the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department and Parsons is leading the joint venture that also includes CJ Mahan construction. The new bridge will be constructed some 61m upstream from the existing structure. The existing White River Bridge has four 3.66m-wide lanes and 61m of vertical clearance between piers for commercial navigation

A series of major highway sections in Serbia should be completed during 2017, including work to two stretches of the key Corridor 10 project. In all, some 122km of highways are expected to be opened to traffic in Serbia during 2017. Greek contractor Actor is building an 18km stretch of Corridor 10 that runs from Surcin to Obrenovac part. This firm is also building a 19.5km section of Corridor 10 from the Ostruznica Bridge that spans the Sava River to Bubanj Potok, and a further 10km section leading to Buban

Construction firm Wijaya Karya (Wika) is heading the consortium that will build the Serang-Panimbang toll highway in Indonesia’s Banten province. The 40 year concession package for the US$825.85 million project was awarded to the state-owned construction firm and its two partners by the Toll Road Regulatory Agency. Wika has a 90% stake in the consortium, with the remainder held by its partners, Jababeka and Pembangunan Perumahan, which each have a 5% share. The construction work will be carried out in three

A loan worth US$230 million from the World Bank will help pay for a major highway upgrade in Bolivia. The highway connects San Ignacio de Velasco and San Jose de Chiquitos in Santa Cruz. The funding will pay for the route to be paved with a new surface, which will help deliver lower journey times for road users, as well as improving safety levels. The upgrade to the road will help to increase capacity and will also provide a boost to the local economy in the Santa Cruz area of the country.

Plans in Argentina call for the construction of a major new road tunnel project. Called the Paseo del Bajo, the tunnel will provide an important connection between the existing Illia highway and the highway joining capital Buenos Aires with La Plata. The 6.7km tunnel is costing some US$650 million and intended to carry trucks and buses only, with light traffic remaining on existing surface routes. Removing heavy traffic from existing routes on the surface will help cut congestion, as well as delivering majo

South Korea is planning a series of highway projects, with existing routes to be expanded and new stretches to be built. The country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has set out a programme of works that will run until 2020. The work planned includes widening 10 existing highways as well as constructing a further 13 new highways. Construction of the roads will help to generate 290,000 jobs and deliver an economic benefit to the country expected to reach US$77.35 billion. The South Korean Gov

The UK Government is finalising its plans for the construction of a road tunnel close to the famous Stonehenge monument in Wiltshire. The 2.9km tunnel will carry the A303, a busy road that carries heavy traffic, particularly during the holiday season when large numbers of tourists pass through the area. The existing route passes close to the Stonehenge monument but the road is widely recognised as being unfit for purpose. As well as carrying cars, it handles a high percentage of large trucks, including heav

A Bosnian minister has expressed concern over the difference between bids by two consortia for a motorway project that includes construction of the Pocitelj Bridge. Bosnia's state-owned motorway company Autoceste FBiH said in May that it had signed a contract worth nearly €108 million with the joint venture of Euroasfalt and Strabag for construction of the 5.8km Klopce-Donja Gracanica subsection of pan-European transport Corridor Vc. A report by the Bosnian news agency Fena said that Bosnia's deputy m

Uzbekistan has set a budget for road construction and repairs during 2017. The target is to either build or repair 260km of roads. Funding for the work will come from Uzbekistan’s Republican Road Fund. A budget of close to US$500 million will pay for the construction and repair work. The road building and repair activity is considered essential to helping the development of Uzbekistan’s economy.