Road Structures

A huge development of roads is expected in India. The Indian Government has plans to spend around US$15.29 billion on building 10,000km of roads in the North-East of the country. A significant portion, around $3.73 billion, will be used on roads development in Arunachal Pradesh. One key project now commencing is for the widening of the Akola-Murtizaur segment of National Highway 6. The $7.46 billion project is expected to be complete by 2020.

Spanish environmental services, infrastructure and water group FCC has secured a €392 deal to design, build, operate and maintain the 10km Toyo Tunnel in Urabá Port, Colombia. The Government of Antioquia awarded the project to the consortium in which Madrid-based FCC has a 40% share and a group of local business people hold 60%. The tunnel is around 80km from Medellin, the capital of Colombia’s mountainous Antioquia province. The US$426 million contract is for 10 years, during which design and constru

Plans are moving forward in Myanmar for the construction of a new highway link. A consortium made up of Halla Corp and Lotte E&C of South Korea and Capital Diamond Star Group (CDSG) of Myanmar is offering a proposal to build a 20.5km highway. This four-lane highway would connect Yangon and Bago and be constructed on a public-private-partnership basis. Drivers would have to pay a toll charge of US$1 each at three toll collection points. Phase I of the Yangon Urban Expressway project will cost US$620 million

France and Côte d'Ivoire have signed a financing deal worth US$206.46 million (€190 million) for the refurbishment of roads. This will form part of the French development aid programme. The funding will be directed towards rebuilding the Bouaké-Ferkéssédougou road and the Félix Houphouët-Boigny bridge in Abidjan. Under the terms of the debt restructuring programme the countries have agreed, France will receive money from Côte d'Ivoire and will then lend an equivalent amount.

Algeria has made significant progress with rebuilding its road system, boosting its network and adding extra capacity. Since 1999, 23,000 km of roads, including 1,200 km of highways, have been built in the country. The Ministry of Public Works said that work on a further 1,200 km of highways will be launched shortly. The 73km highway stretch between Khemis Miliana and Oued Fodda has now opened to traffic following upgrading works. The segment forms part of Algeria’s East-West highway.

A new plan is calling for the construction of a tolled tunnel under the Kerch Strait. The proposal has been put forward by InzhTekhInvestStroy. Unofficial approval has been given already for the work. Construction could commence as early as December 2015. The work would take until 2018 to complete. The planned tunnel would be 8.5km long with twin tubes, each carrying two lanes of traffic and constructed to a maximum depth of around 100m. The planned tunnel would not compete with the proposed Kerch Strait Br

Construction work is commencing on an important new bridge link in Colombia. The Puente de la Reconciliacion Bridge will connect the municipality of Mompox with the rest of the Bolivar department of Colombia. The project is being carried out by the consortium Consorcio Nacional Yati. The project will improve connections with Mompox, which is difficult to reach by road at present due to the lack of a direct route. The 2.3km long bridge will also provide a connection between the Troncal de Occidente and Ruta

Ukraine’s Regional Road Service estimates that US$1.08 billion is required to rebuild roads in the Donetsk Region. The work will be carried out from 2016-2025. Construction activity will focus on building 100km of new roads and repairing 2,500km of existing roads to meet current standards. The programme of work will provide up to 10,000 jobs in road-building and related industries.

Tunisia has major plans to upgrade its road network, with work due to commence in 2016. The Tunisian Government has said it intends to modernise 718km of roads across the country. The aim is to widen roads to 7.6m so that they meet international standards. The scheme will cover 21 governorates. Five national roads will be upgraded with a total distance of 105km, while 20 regional roads covering a distance of 320km will be updated. The project will also improve 20 local roads with a total distance of 294km.