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The Algerian government is now talking directly to the Japanese government in an effort to resolve a dispute with sacked Japanese highways consortium Cojaal, In 2006, Cojaal won a US$5 billion deal to build the 359km eastern section of Algeria’s proposed 900km East-West Highway within 40 months. Algeria divided the contract into three sections, with the Chinese company Citic-CRCC winning the central and western sections, which in total was to cost around $6 billion.

Lithuania’s road safety record is improving, albeit slowly. Data from the police force reveals that there were 3,325 traffic crashes in the country in 2014. The number of deaths from crashes actually rose to 265, an increase of 3.5% from 2013. However the number of people killed in traffic stood at 61/million residents in 2014, down from 87/million in 2013. Pedestrians accounted for 40.8% of road deaths, while cyclists accounted for 7.2% of road deaths. Improvement was seen in the numbers injured in road cr

Software specialist Bentley Systems continues to develop its engineering software portfolio, this time with the acquisition of the UK-based firm C3global. This move brings Bentley the web-based Amulet software for operational analytics. From a product portfolio perspective, it complements Bentley’s AssetWise platform, which serves configuration management, asset health monitoring, inspection, maintenance, and compliance for infrastructure assets. The move means AssetWise will deliver additional actionable i

A consortium led by Portuguese contractor Britalar has been sacked from a controversial contract to rehabilitate a prestigious thoroughfare in the Mozambique capital Maputo. The council is seeking repayment of US$1 million from the consortium that includes two other Portuguese companies, Construção Europa Ar-Lindo and Aurélio Martins Sobreiro e Filhos. Media reports also say a Chinese firm has been handed the contract to finish the work that was started in February 2013 under a deal worth $12.5 millio

The fourth edition of the Global Road Safety Film Festival is being held in Morocco’s largest city Casablanca on 13th and 14th February, 2015. This event is organised jointly by Laser International Foundation (LIFE) in partnership with the Prevention Routiere Internationale (PRI) and the National Committee for Prevention of Traffic Accidents (CNPAC) of the Kingdom of Morocco. The aim of the event is for film makers to make short videos detailing aspects of road safety. The website provides links to clips fr

The Polish national roads authority GDDKiA has said that it will no longer look for the cheapest offer in road-building tenders. Instead, it will, in line with European Union requirements, consider whole life cycle factors such as durability, cost of exploitation and quality. Poland has long been criticised by the road construction industry, both within the country and in the rest of Europe, for handing out tender wins to the lowest bidder with scant regard for life-cycle costs. The government has also b

Indonesian state-owned construction firm Waskita Karya will seek a bank loan of US$338 million for its work on the Pejagan-Pemalang toll project in central Java island. The project is being managed by Pejagan Pemalang Toll Road, a subsidiary of Waskita Karya. Waskita company secretary Antonius Yulianto Nugroho said the firm has enough cash resources to cover a quarter of its financial commitment on the project and is targeting bank loans to cover the other 75%. Waskita Karya plans to carry out a bond

Work is now commencing in the US state of Maine for the new Sarah Mildred Long Bridge. The bridge will connect Maine and New Hampshire, spanning the Piscataqua River. The project is expected to cost around US$170 million, with $25 million coming from the US Department of Transport’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant programme. The existing bridge is 65 years old and is no longer suitable for the 14,000 vehicles/day it has to carry. The project is expected to be completed i

Red tape and bureaucracy are to blame for delays to Peru’s highway concessions. Infrastructure association Afin cites these as the reasons the majority of Peru’s highway concessions have been held up, by as much as 10 years in certain instances. Business News Americas reports that so far, only 15% of Peru's 78,000km road network, around 12,445km, is paved according to Afin. The country has a particular need to revamp three major highways according to Afin: the 2,600km Pan- American highway, the 3,500km And

Wacker Neuson has improved damping for the centre pole on its reversible vibratory plates to reduce hand-arm vibration below 1.5 m/s², meaning there is no time limit for operation of the machines. The improvements are on machines in the weight class of 300kg to 800kg, or 40kN to 100kN of compaction performance. The diesel-powered vibratory plates DPU 4545, DPU 5545 and DPU 6555 achieve values of less than 1.5 m/s², while the DPU 4045 lies at just 0.9 m/s². Wacker Neuson said the improvements take int

Peruvian plans for the Pan-American Highways expect key stretches of the route to be complete during July of this year and another during 2016. One construction company will complete its contract for the Chincha-Pisco stretch of the highway by July, reports Business News Americas. Meanwhile work on the the Pisco-Ica stretch should be finished in 2016. The work in Ica region is of importance to Peru’s economy as this area is home to the country’s biggest agro-export industries, Minsur's tin smelter, Aceros A

The road maintenance crisis in the United Kingdom and the United States is deepening amid estimates that it will take millions of dollars to stop highway infrastructure from crumbling, including falling prey to potholes. A recent report by the BBC in the UK said that at least one municipal council, the city of Leeds, is facing a bill of nearly US$153 million to patch up its potholed roads. In the United States, Senator Bernie Sanders is t

In China Chongqing municipality has announced plans to invest close to US$12 billion (74.5 billion RMB) in transportation developments in 2015. Chongqing plans to spend $5.97 billion (37.1 billion RMB) in road construction, including 5,000km of rural roads while three new highways are due for completion in 2015. Other transport investments including spending boosting the rail network in the city by 155km and developing civil aviation.