Road Structures

An agreement has been signed to pay for the construction of a new 34km road link in Nigeria’s River State. The new link will connect Bonny Island with Bodo, improving transport for this key industrial area of Nigeria. The agreement was signed jointly between the Nigerian Government, Julius Berger Nigeria, and Nigeria LNG. The road project is expected to cost US$331.62 million, with around half of the financing being provided by Nigeria LNG.

Bids are now being received for an important tunnel project in northern Poland. The country’s General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) has had four offers worth between €194 million and €259 million for the construction of the tunnel. The new link is planned to be built in Swinoujscie and will run under the Swina River to Uznam Island with Wolin Island.

A series of key road projects in Venezuela have fallen victim to the country’s overall financial paralysis, a result of its plummeting economy and its disastrous political climate. Insufficient finances have seen work to construct the La Verota-Kempis, Circunvalacion Sur-Caracas and Caracas-La Guaira highways now being stalled for two years.

Work is underway on the third stage of Colombia’s Bogota-Villavicencio road project. This 24km project is being carried out under the PPP model by the concession holder, Concesionaria Vial Andina (Coviandina). The project is complex and includes the construction of seven tunnels in all, which have a total length of 10.7km, as well as 21 bridges and overpasses measuring 3.8km in all. Coviandina has bored around 930m of the total tunnel length at present.

A major upgrade is planned to the road connecting Zambia with the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The 321km road link will be upgraded to dual carriageway status between Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, and the city of Ndola, which lies close to the border with the DRC. The upgraded route will also run through Kabwe, while improving the connections to Zambia’s copper producing area situated around Ndola.

German firm Hochtief will see its Australian subsidiary CPB Contractors carry out a US$294 million (A$365 million) project on a stretch of Australia’s Pacific Highway. The package of works involves widening and upgrading a 34km section of the highway, with construction now starting and due for completion during 2020. The improved route will be widened so that it has four lanes, with two in either direction and will offer increased capacity as well as better safety for drivers.

Funding from Japan now looks likely to help pay for a highway project in Tanzania. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is planning to offer US$1.4 billion for Tanzania’s New Bagamoyo Highway road project. The deal has yet to be finalised, but construction work should commence in June 2018, should all go to plan. Once the work starts, this will improve the connection between Mwenge and the Kawawa intersection.

Panama has postponed the tender process for the fourth bridge crossing over the Panama Canal. This is the fourth time the fourth bridge crossing tender has been postponed. Panama’s Ministry of Public Works (MOP) opted to postpone the tender due to changes in the guidelines. The bridge will have six lanes for motor vehicles as well as twin tracks for metro rail and is expected to cost US$1 billion to construct.

A new highway project worth US$184 million has been awarded in Myanmar to a joint venture comprising Punj Lloyd and Varaha Infrastructure. The project will see the construction of an improved road link measuring 120km connecting Yagyi with Kalewa. The work is expected to take three years to complete and will include the construction of three large bridges as well as two small bridges.