News

The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) is to contribute US$28.5 million towards the X20 ring road of greater Tunis, according to a report in L'Economiste Maghrébin. An agreement was signed on 17 March between Yassine Brahim, the Tunisian minister for development, investment and international cooperation, and Ahmed Al Badr, the managing director of KFAED. World Highways reported in June 2013 that the government was moving ahead with plans for the 80km ring road expected to cost around $365 mil

Plans are moving forward in Turkey for the construction of a new tunnel project. This new link will run under the busy Bosporus waterway and will connect Kucuksu on the Anatolian side and Gayrettepe on the European side. Approval for the work has been given by the Istanbul Municipality Council. And the timeline for the project calls for the route to be ready for use in five years time In all the route will pass through 12 districts, so some further approvals will be necessary however. The route will feature

Controversy has arisen with regard to a Norwegian tunnel incident in 2013. A fire broke out in the Gudvanga Tunnel and resulted in 67 vehicle occupants being trapped, with 28 having to receive treatment for smoke inhalation. Norway’s Accident Investigation Board (Statens havarikommisjon) has criticised the National Road Administration (Statens vegvesen) over the incident. According to Statens havarikommisjon, there was insufficient information provided to those people in the tunnel at the time of the incide

Four highway concessions will be due for tender shortly. The country’s Secretariat for Communications and Transport (SCT) is working on these four motorway concessions and intends to open the tender process in the next few months. The highway projects being considered for tender include a new link Indios Verdes and Santa Clara, the Las Varas-Puerto Vallarta connection, the Tulum highway and Orizaba highway. SCT recently put the Hermosillo highway project out to tender recently and this is generating interes

Software specialist Bentley Systems continues to develop its spread of technology solutions for the construction sector. Its latest acquisition is of the California-based provider of construction management cloud services, EADOC. This is being added into Bentley’s MANAGEservices portfolio and will help managers at engineering and construction management firms or infrastructure owners with capital projects to reduce risk and staff hours. It will also help improve information quality, and provide owners with

Kazakhstan is planning a major programme of infrastructure investment in a bid to develop the country’s economy. In all some US$40 billion will be invested in building infrastructure, with transportation as well as health and education all having been prioritised. Road and rail links will be developed, with many new links also being constructed.

A solution seems to have been found for Colombia’s long-running La Linea Tunnel project. Work has been delayed on the tunnel for a number of reasons and on a number of occasions, most recently due to funding issues. But previous delays were due to such diverse causes as technical challenges posed by the difficult conditions and a lack of suitable insurance cover. The Colombian Government has come to an agreement with the Segundo Centenario consortium building the tunnel that will see construction activity r

The European construction equipment manufacturer’s association, CECE, has released its strongly positive Economic Report for 2014. According to this report, equipment sales in the European market grew by 9% in 2014. However a flat sales growth is forecast for 2015. The report says that 2014 was a troubled, yet good, year for the European construction equipment industry. Sales on the European market grew by 9% compared to 2013, highlighting slight growth in construction. The European construction equipment m

Work is nearing completion on Nigeria’s important East-West road project. The new dual carriageway link should be ready to carry traffic in a matter of months. In all the project was originally expected to cost in the order of US$1.93 billion to construct and work commenced back in 2006. However an additional stretch may now be added that will extend the route. This project is of significance as it improves transport links to the South East of Nigeria, an area of the country that has long been overlooked fo

A series of separate works will help improve traffic flow in and around Russia’s capital, Moscow. Construction work has commenced on three tunnels as well as an overpass, with this activity forming part of the planned improvement of the Kaluzhskoe Highway. The work is being carried out by contractor Arks. The work involves widening the highway so that it will feature, and in some places five, lanes in either direction. The contractor is also constructing emergency lanes, 28 km of storm drains and improving

When you have only a limited time to visit a large exhibition, such as Bauma in Munich, Germany, you have to move fast to touch base with all people you need to see. There is a video that shows how one man -- obviously he was in training for a while – made the most of his less than 3 minutes at Bauma. The video reminds World Highways’ editorial director Geoff Hadwick that he has been there and done that… in his younger days, at least.

Indonesia will form a consortium of state enterprises to build all the 2,700km of the Trans-Sumatra toll highway, from Lampung to Aceh on the island of Sumatra. The finance department is also setting up special infrastructure banks to provide flexible loans for the state departments to fund the project, Indonesian media reported. Indonesia recently changed the law that had the state infrastructure company PT Hutama Karya as the only organisation allowed to build major projects. Other state enterprises can n