News

Plans are now in hand for the AEMA-ARRA-ISSA-PPRA-IBEF-FP2 Pavement Preservation World Summit. This will be held from February 22nd – 25th 2015 at the Palais des Congrès Convention Center in the French capital, Paris. The website for the event is also in place: pprsparis2015.com and gives details of the programme. According to the organisers, the PPRS Paris 2015 event will provide a discussion focus for shared projects and ambitions. It follows the PPRA’s decision to organise an annual meeting in Paris in 2

Work is underway on the Causeway Upgrade Project in New Zealand. The US$183.3 million (NZ$220 million) contract was awarded by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA). The route forms part of State Highway 16, with the fork being part of Auckland's Western Ring Route. The contract was awarded to the Causeway Alliance, a consortium made up of Aecom, Coffey Geotechnics, Fulton Hogan, Leighton Contractors, Sinclair Knight Merz and the NZTA.

Lafarge's Volos cement plant in Greece has set up a novel partnership with a local drinks company, allowing it to reuse the company's wastewater in the cement producer’s industrial process. The Volos plant has connected its water network to that of the drinks company, using a nearby pipe previously used to pump water from a now disused bore hole to the plant. Now, waste water from the drinks company is piped directly to the Lafarge works, where it is used in the conditioning tower, before de-dusting

JCB Chief Executive Graeme Macdonald has officially opened the company’s newest facility in Staffordshire, which has created almost 100 new jobs in just six months. JCB World Logistics took over the former 35,581m² Blue Planet warehouse in Newcastle-under-Lyme in July 2013 and since then almost 80 new warehouse and office staff and 20 drivers have been recruited. In the next two years employment levels are expected to triple to more than 300 as the facility becomes fully operational.

This new video from Pan-European police body TISPOL details the effects of a series of tragic road crashes in the UK. TISPOL’s UK council member Suzette Davenport gives a personal account of her experience as attending officer at recent road crashes in the UK.

The Ammann Group has acquired concrete plant manufacturer Elba in a move said to ‘round off’ the Group’s portfolio, while also representing an ideal complement to Ammann’s existing asphalt plant and machine divisions. Founded in 1948, Elba is based in Ettlingen, Germany and is considered a much-respected producer of high-quality concrete mixing plants. Ammann will complete the actual purchase process at the beginning of March 2014 once the acquisition has been approved by the cartel authorities. The Elba

China's Exim Bank is providing financing worth some €800 million to the Government of Montenegro for a highway project. The loan will be used to pay for work to a section of the Bar-Boljari highway stretch. The work on the Podgorica-Kolasin stretch is due to commence shortly and will be carried out by the Chinese contractor CC International. The Government of Montenegro will borrow some €118 million for capital projects and €240 million for the budget requirements. Of this, €10 million is to be borrowed fro

The European Union will support with over €1.5 million from the TEN-T Programme a series of studies looking at the connection of the Freeport of Riga in Latvia to the TEN-T road network. The studies, selected under the 2012 TEN-T Annual Programme, specifically concern the detailed design needed ahead of the construction in 2016 of a 9.1km stretch (Segment 1) of the Riga Northern Transport Corridor (Northern Corridor). The Northern Corridor is an east-west motorway which will cross the old historic town ce

Slovakia plans to invest more than €3.5 billion (US$ 4.76 billion) on new roads, motorways and other transport infrastructure, according to the draft partnership agreement between the European Union and Slovakia for the 2014-2020 budgetary period. The proposal claims that the current state of infrastructure in Slovakia is poor, technically obsolete and incomplete, which not only creates obstacles in the mobility of citizens but also reduces the attractiveness of the country for foreign investors. The coun

More than US$617 million (VND 13 trillion) will be required by Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City for road construction and repairs in 2014, according to a national newspaper quoting the city's Department of Transport. Ho Chi Minh City needs the money to fulfil plans to construct 10 new bridges and 45km of road covering 397,000m². Of the total funding demand, $108.27 million (VND 2.3 trillion) will be official development assistance (ODA) loans, while $329.54 million (VND 7 trillion) will come from Ho Chi Minh Cit

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is set to transfer the US$ 150 million second tranche of a loan for construction of Masally-Shorsulu highway in Azerbaijan. The first $250 million ADB loan tranche has already been sent, with the overall project cost set to reach $625 million. Azerbaijan will get a $100 million third ADB loan tranche in 2016, taking the Bank’s total loan investment in the new highway to $500 million. Reconstruction of all Azerbaijan’s highways is set to cost at least US$38.2billion (AZN 29.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) intends to supply financial assistance worth US$154.8 million for 484 new road projects in the state of Odisha, India. The routes will extend for a total of 1,790.4km, targeting 14 districts affected by tropical cyclone Phailin in late 2013 and which suffered flooding. The state had previously requested funding from the central government to improve 3,076,62km of roads.

Colombia's national infrastructure agency (ANI) has prequalified 10 companies for its US$770 million highway project Autopista al Mar 2. This new route will improve connections in western Antioquia department between Medellín and the Pacific coast, according to Business News Americas. The project is for the operation and maintenance of 176km of highways, as well as the construction of 41 bridges and 19 tunnels. Among the companies prequalified are Spain's Sacyr, Cintra, Acciona and OHL, France's Vinci, and

Work has started on a new facility for BOMAG Americas in South Carolina. The groundbreaking ceremony was held in Ridgeway, at the future site of the firm’s new North American headquarters. The new facility will house spare parts warehousing and a machine assembly area along with office space. It is due for completion in October 2014, when BOMAG will begin the move from its current headquarters in Illinois. BOMAG chose the location, situated within 50km from Columbia and 112km of Charlotte in North Carolin