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Ministers from the 54 member countries of the International Transport Forum are calling for more investment in strategic transport infrastructure and services. “Funding transport is a major challenge for transport policy today. The demand for mobility through high-quality transport networks and services is growing fast”, the ministers stated in a joint Declaration on Funding Transport agreed today during their 2013 Summit in Leipzig, Germany. “Transport infrastructure is much more than asphalt, concrete or

Croatian construction firm Konstruktor and India’s Simplex Infrastructure are reported to have been awarded a contract worth US$ 335 million (€259.34mn) for the construction of 46km of motorway in Oman. The joint venture project envisages that Konstruktor will hold 48%, while Simplex will own 52% of the project. The deal has been signed with the Ministry of Transport and Telecoms of Sultanata Oman.

The revenue generating potential of road tolls in Norway is worth US$1.72 billion (NOK 10bn) a year, according to National Public Roads Administration (Vegdirektoratet). The estimate, following a review by Vegdirektoratet for the 2014-2023 National Transport Plan (NTP) launched by the Norwegian government, is up significantly on the $1.03 billion (NOK 6bn) revenues estimated in the current NTP. According to the Administration, contributing factors to the rise in toll potential include increasing interest in

Spanish construction companies FCC and ACS say they will take part in the tender of the US$3.05 billion (£2bn) Mersey bridge project in the UK. FCC and ACS will take part as members of two of the three consortia that have expressed an interest. FCC will take part in the tender through its German subsidiary Hochtief, and it infrastructures division Iridium, within the consortium led by BAM Nuttal of the UK. Meanwhile, ACS will be part of the Bilfinger and Macquarie consortium through its subsidiary Globalvia

Authorities in India’s north-west state of Punjab have approved the upgrade of 11,000km of state link roads for approximately US$306.77 million (INR 17bn). This is in addition to the construction of 637km of roads for $57.81 million (INR 3.19bn) under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), which will see $138.65 million (INR 7.65bn) spent to complete 192 roads by December 2013. Approval was also given to repair and maintain other roads and State highways with $57.09 million (INR 3.15bn).

The Brunei government has awarded a US$110.27 million (KRW 123.3bn) deal to South Korea-based Daelim Industrial (Daelim) to construct the Sungai Brunei Bridge. The Sungai Brunei Bridge will be Brunei's biggest bridge, crossing the Brunei River and connecting the regions of Kampong Sungai Kebun and Jalan to improve the economy in the south of the country. The roads that lead to the bridge will be expanded by Daelim, which will also construct two interchanges.

The UK government has announced three options for a new Lower Thames road crossing in south east England.

Work on a new link road will go ahead in Taunton, western England after receiving final approval from Local Transport Minister Norman Baker. The work is needed to improve east-west connections across Taunton and open up access to new development. The overall US$32.07 million (£22.1mn) scheme will see Somerset County Council construct a new road linking Staplegrove Road in the west of the town to Priory Avenue in the east. “This important scheme will help to reduce traffic demand through the town centre and

A number of leading automakers are working on a joint project to develop sophisticated fuel cell vehicles in the US. Hyundai, Mercedes, Nissan and Toyota are collaborating on the project, which includes developing new fuel cell storage systems. However the scope of the project extends beyond developing the propulsion technology and will also cover refuelling stations.

The authorities in Poland are working on a road safety strategy intended to tackle the country’s high level of fatalities and injuries from traffic crashes. Improvements in safety levels are being seen with a decline in the fatality rate and in 2012, 3,600 people were killed representing a drop of 22.3% from the previous year. The first quarter of 2013 saw an 18.1% drop in road crashes, a 25.4% fall in fatalities and an 18.4% reduction in injuries compared with statistics available for the same period in 20

The pan-European police body, TISPOL, is planning a road safety event to be held in the UK later this year. This conference will be run on 1st and 2nd October in the UK city of Manchester. The theme for the 2013 conference is Improving Road Safety - Solutions that Work and the event will be held at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Manchester Airport. TISPOL has been highly effective in improving road safety and also in helping reduce casualty figures across Europe. In TISPOL¹s recent speed enforcement operation, 2

Official data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) reveals that the country’s vehicle fleet continues to increase. The TUIK report shows that by 31st March 2013, some 17.3 million vehicles were registered for use on Turkey’s road network. This figure represents a 7.6% increase over the number of registered vehicles noted as being registered on Turkey’s roads at the end of March 2012. Some 51% of the registered vehicles are passenger cars, 16.5% are pick-up trucks, 15.5% are motorbikes, 8.8% are tra