News

The Ethiopian Parliament has approved the country's largest budget. The government raised the budget for the 2010-2011 period by 20% from US$4.77 billion in 2009-2010 to $5.71 billion for the current financial year. A substantial portion will be allotted to the nine federal regions while $2.65 billion will be used for development spending, with $887.4 million for road infrastructure. The Ethiopian Government has said that some 70% of the 2010-2011 budget will be used on infrastructure development and povert

The MISTRAS Group is handling a US$3.4 million contract for continuous structural health monitoring on the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. The client for this contract is the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) and MISTRAS will be responsible for installing and operating the package. The system is being installed on the bridge in response to a fatigue defect found on a structural steel beam in a regularly scheduled inspection during a holiday closure in 2009.

Plans are now in hand to tackle some of the chronic traffic congestion problems in Indian city Mumbai. Indian construction company, Reliance Infrastructure, will spend US$746.6 million building an eight-lane bridge between Worli and Haji Ali. The company entered an agreement with Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation. This new sea bridge should help address congestion issues for the roads in the south of Mumbai. The bridge is due for completion in 2014.

A loan from the Philippines-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help Sri Lanka rebuild roads damaged by its civil war. The US$154.4 million credit facility will be put toward projects such as repairing or replacing bridges and around 140km of provincial roads that were damaged in the north of Sri Lanka, where the civil war was most intense.

In India the authorities are approving a further four new highway projects. These will be worth nearly US$535 million in total. The highways are located in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Gujarat and the work involves widening and improving the existing NH34 in West Bengal as well as widening a 123km section of the link from Jetpur-Somnath in Gujarat. Both of these upgraded sections will be widened with two lanes in either direction.

A consortium in Indonesia is being established to push ahead with the US$16.7 billion Sunda Straits Bridge project. Organisational input for the consortium is coming from Indonesia's Public Work Ministry and the group will comprise private investors, state-owned companies and regional government-owned companies in Lampung and Banten provinces. The consortium will have to be established by the end of 2010 for the programme to remain on track.

India intends to continue its massive investment in highway spending. Predictions for the next five years say that up to US$100 billion will be spent on road building in the country in the coming five years. The Ministry for Road Transport and Highways plans to build 35,000km of highways, with 60% being provided by the Government budget and 40% from the private sector. The Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways will open up tendering for nine highway projects. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI

The authorities in Indonesia plan to invest heavily in infrastructure in 2010 and 2011, with road transport regarded as a high priority. The Directorate General of Highway Construction at the Public Work Ministry has set a budget of US$1.86 billion budget for 2010. According to the Public Work Ministry, 1% of the total budget for 2010 will be used to develop around 536km of roads while 11.5% of the budget will be spent on preservation of 4,400km roads

A huge highway investment programme is planned for China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region during July-December 2010. Guangxi Communications Investment will launch eight expressway projects in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. This move will bring the number of expressway projects under development in the region to a total of 22, which are worth over US$22 billion. The 22 expressways will extend some 2,300km in all, while these eight additional projects being discussed extend for 876km.

Work on the Libyan section of the North African coastal highway now looks set to go ahead. Two consortia from Italy are to tender for the pre-qualifying stage of the US$3 billion project. The highway will run some 1,700km from Libya's border with Tunisia all the way to the border with Egypt. This is the final section in the new highway running all the way from Morocco in North West Africa to Egypt in the North East.

Planning for West Africa's first PPP motorway deal is now moving forward and construction work is due to begin this summer. The ?200 million Toll Highway will run 25km from Dakar, the capital of Senegal, towards the country's new international airport (AIBD) at Diass and the economic development gateway at Diamniadio. The highway will cross a densely populated district at Pikine Irrégulier Sud and forms part of a wider development programme for the Dakar region.

A major loan from Japan will help develop the road transport network in Kazakhstan. The Japanese government will provide a loan to the Republic of Kazakhstan worth US$76 million. The sum will be used to develop the country's road infrastructure and will boost Kazakhstan's access to European and Asian markets. The loan will allow a new bypass to be built on one of the country's main transport arteries in the southern Zhambyl province, as well as the rehabilitation of other existing routes.

Vietnam is seeing significant expansion of its highway network at present, with another three major projects now moving forward and much of the financial backing coming from other Asian nations such as South Korea and Japan. A feasibility study is being carried out for the 94km Nghi Son-Bai Vot expressway and this should be complete by October 2010. The project is expected to cost US$1.04 billion and the expressway will have either six or four lanes, based on Transport Engineering Design's study.

A feasibility study is now in hand for a 10km bridge in Brunei to link Temburong with Brunei-Muara. Ove Arup & Partners has been awarded the contract for the bridge study, a deal worth some US$2.1 million that is expected to take 18 months to complete.