News

Serbia has entered into “in depth” negotiations with two Chinese companies for concession contracts along the Corridor 11 motorway between Belgrade and the Montenegrin border. Shandong High Speed Group and the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) are the two Chinese companies that have passed the pre-qualification process. The project value has not been mentioned. Serbian vice president Zorana Mihajlovic said that the Chinese have requested guarantees for transport and Serbia is considering this a

Chinese contractors are interested in a series of highway projects in the Czech Republic. One of the Czech projects attracting the Chinese interest is for the R4 express road, which will cost in the region of €274 million to construct. The tender process for this project will open in early 2016. The Czech Transport Ministry says that several Chinese firms are interested in a number of the country’s PPP projects. Another project in focus will be for the R7 Prague-Chomutov road, which will be built after the

A consortium comprising four contractors is carrying out construction of Algeria’s new Tizi-Hacine road link. The 18km road project in Mascara Province is costing US$205.34 million to build. The project is for the second part of the highway linking Mascara to the East-West motorway. The consortium comprises four Spanish-Algerian companies including Sarl Benzamia, Irrigout, CHM and LIC. Meanwhile work on the 25km stretch of road linking Hacine to the East-West highway is also commencing. This work is to be c

China's Exim Bank has paid €94.30 million as the first installment for construction of the first part of the Bar-Serbian border motorway. Montenegro’s minister of finance, Radoje Zugic, said that construction is expected to begin within the next few weeks. Exim Bank has approved 85% of the total €810 million load, payable over 20 years, for construction of the first part of 49km of the motorway. Is set at 2% with a grace period of six years. Total length of the motorway will be 170km.

The Transport Department of the State of Virginia in the US plans to cancel a contract worth an estimated US$1.12 billion for road construction awarded to Spanish firm Ferrovial. The deal ends 15 June and the two parties are negotiating compensation terms for Ferrovial which won the contract in October 2012 for US-460. . Work was to begin in 2014 and finish in 2018 but no construction has taken place. The road, awarded in consortium with American Infrastructure, was to be 88.5km and run between the c

The concession package for Colombia’s Toyo Tunnel project will be awarded in the third quarter of 2015. This has been announced by the authorities in Antioquia. The date has been set for September 28th for the concession to be awarded. The project will cost US$530.2 million, with the costs being split between the Medellin Council and the regional government. The 9.8km tunnel will help boost transport and trade between Medellin and Uraba. The regional government has launched a dedicated website with details

Strong interest in investment in Indonesian infrastructure is being reported. Work is starting on a series of major infrastructure projects. The groundbreaking for the trans-Sumatra toll road has been carried out. The toll road will link Aceh to Lampung and is one of a series of major projects commencing in the country. The Indonesian Government has increased its allocation for capital expenditure from US$12.03 billion to $22.36 billion for 2015. Infrastructure development in 2015 is expected to fuel the co

Plans are well in hand in El Salvador for a key bypass project. Approval has been given for a US$122 million loan for the San Miguel bypass. The loan will help finance the San Miguel road bypass, with the El Salvador Government contributing an additional $30 million towards the project. The construction work is expected to last around four years. In addition, official approval has also been given for talks with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) over a loan worth $115 million to finance the Pacific-

Work on a new link connecting Kenya with South Sudan will commence in 2016. The US$956 million road project will run from Lesseru in Kenya to Nakodok/Nadapal, on the border with South Sudan. The 601km road will be an important road connection running the northern part of Kenya via Lokichar, Kakuma, Lodwar to Lokichoggio. The project will also include the installation of a 600km fibre optic cable. Some $500 million of the necessary financing is being provided by the World Bank, with a further $70 million bei

German contractor Joh. Sahler has changed its entire fleet of construction machinery to Hitachi Zaxis excavators. The two ZX38U-5s, ZX48U-3, ZX85USBLC-5, ZX145W-3, ZX170W-5 and ZX190W-3 were ordered by the Leverkusen-based company in June last year and delivered by the country’s authorised Hitachi dealer, Kiesel. Joh. Sahler was founded in 1945 and is now owned by a third-generation family member, Antonius Eisbach, and managed on a day-to-day basis by directors Dietmar Müller and Matthias Schindler. It has

Brazil’s Transport Ministry is to postpone 30 major projects due to budget cuts. The Ministry of Transport says that 30 projects that would have been launched in 2015 will now be postponed due to the reduced budget. The cut is estimated to be between 30% and 40% of the Ministry's budget, cutting up to US$2.04 billion in funding. Instead the Transport Ministry will now focus on projects that are already complete or close to being finished. However those projects considered to be of value to the national econ

Four Chinese contractors are involved in the bidding process for work on Brunei’s Temburong Bridge project. This is the second phase for the bridge project, as a local contractor, Swee, and a South Korean company, Daelim Industrial, won the tender process for the first phase of the work. There are five phases in all for the 30km Temburong Bridge project. In all the project is expected to cost some US$1.21 billion to construct. The names of all of the bidders for the second phase have not so far been release