News

The Ethiopian Road Construction Corporation is to undertake one of Ethiopia's most expensive road constructions, a 30km road from Chancho to Becho, contracted for $32million. The road, part of the Fourth Road Sector Development Programme, will pass through Derba and provide proper access to Derba Cement, the largest cement factory in the country.

FLSmidth has opened an all-in-one service centre in Santiago, Chile, which is tailored to increase customer plant efficiency and safety among other critical offerings. Currently, FLSmidth employs approximately 60 people at its two Chilean service facilities and a total of 850 in Chile.

Due to growing demand for commercial vehicles, as well as increased governmental transportation investments, Allison Transmission has established a new regional office in Bogotá, the Colombian capital. The new office follows the company's expansion plan for South America, consolidating the continent’s three foremost regions: Brazil, the Southern Cone (Argentina, Uruguay and Chile) and the Andean Community.

International Equipment Solutions (IES) has acquired Siac do Brasil from SIAC and its affiliates. IES and SIAC have agreed to cooperate in the future. IES was formed in September 2011 as a platform for investments serving the construction, agriculture, landscaping, infrastructure, recycling, demolition, mining, and energy industries.

Figures recently released indicate that construction spending in China will increase 8.8% each year in real terms through to 2016. Ongoing urbanisation and industrialisation; rebounding foreign investment funding; rising personal income levels and further population and household growth will all work to drive gains. However, further growth will be prevented by a slow-down in the Chinese economy through the forecast period, especially in fixed asset investment. These and other trends are presented in Constru

Doosan has launched a new range of crawler excavators intended for Central and South American markets. It comprises the DX225LCA (operating weight 21.5-23.2tonnes), DX300LCA and the 35tonne DX340LCA models, which replace the previous Solar range, and which are said to offer a new design and features particularly suited to the specific needs of the South American markets. New functionalities and technical improvements include a Doosan Tier 2 compliant engine “ideal for use in South America” and offering fue

Sicilian regional authorities are to receive US$1.94 billion (€1.5bn) from the European Union to carry out highways and other infrastructure projects. Of the overall sum, €500 million is to be allocated to road systems and environment projects.

Traffic jams in the UK are costing the country's 8.2 million drivers US$683.31 million (£426mn) a year in wasted fuel, according to an estimate in a report by the analytics firm Inrix. The cost, which equates to £52 a vehicle, is on top of an estimated wasted driver time cost of £2.7bn. Out of the traffic on the country's roads during the day Inrix states that 19% is freight, with business vehicles passing on £1.1 billion of costs every year to consumers in order to cover the cost of them waiting in traffic

The Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) in Costa Rica is planning to invite tenders to design a 4km-5km four lane flyover that will link Calle Blancos with Zapote during 2013. Achieving some progress on the delayed 5km Circunvalacion Norte ring road project is also said to be a MOPT priority. A tender for the design of the toll-less flyover is due to be launched in January 2013, with construction earmarked to start in 2014. It is expected to be completed after 18 months. Expropriations are not req

Russia will spend some of its revenues from its oil industry on improving its road network. Some 350km of Federal Roads were built in Russia in 2011 and 230km of Federal Roads have been constructed in Russia so far during 2012. Spending on Russia’s Federal Roads was US$$12.7 billion during this year. The investment in Russia’s Federal Roads is expected to increase to $14.6 billion in 2013, and to $16.6 billion by 2015. The work is needed as just 30% of Federal Roads currently meet requirements. And in capit

The Polish Transport Ministry is prioritising development work for its highway and dual carriageway network. With limits on funds available, the Transport Ministry has decided that the major routes will be first to receive investment. However work to a number of bypasses that were due to be built will now be delayed and possibly, abandoned altogether. These include bypasses around Olsztyn, Gora Kalwaria and Pultusk. Some €10.44 billion will have been invested by the Polish Government on roads in the period

Work is said to be progressing on track in Indonesia with the Trans-Sumatra tolled highway. Construction of the section linking Aceh and Lampung Provinces looks set to be completed by the end of 2014 and is expected to open for traffic in early 2015. So far the work looks to cost in the region of US$625 million, with work being carried out by Hutama Karya. Meanwhile plans are also in hand for a new toll road for heavy trucks only that will connect West Java's Citibung and North Jakarta's Tanjung Priok Port.

Missouri’s Blanchette Bridge is now even more abridged. Just a few weeks after explosives took out the West Struss Span, the remaining steel truss on the bridge’s westbound lanes was blown up by demolition crews on Tuesday December 5, 2012. More than 2,000tonnes of steel dropped over 300m into the Missouri River. A 107m section of the Blanchette Bridge was brought down last month. The Blanchette Bridge blasting is part of a US$63 million, year-long project to replace the westbound span.

The Highways Agency has announced the winners and highly commended entrants for the second year of its supplier recognition scheme. The scheme recognises suppliers who are deemed to be demonstrating class-leading performance in driving down costs and delivering increasingly efficient and effective customer services, promoting best practice in the Agency’s supply chain. The annual recognition programme highlights the important contribution made by the Agency’s suppliers, who play a vital role in supporting t

A loan worth nearly US$113 million from the China Development Bank will be used to improve key road connections in Ghana. The four sections of road are in the south west of the country and are important links to the country’s oil and gas producing areas. In all, the China Development Bank is providing a lending facility worth a total of $500 million to Ghana’s Ministry for Roads and Highways. Other projects planned from this lending facility include $180 million for paving an existing gravel road that is 40