Road Structures

The Pacific Complete consortium is the preferred Delivery Partner for the NSW Government’s Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway upgrade in Australia. The Pacific Complete consortium comprises Laing O’Rourke and Parsons Brinckerhoff. The A$4.3 billion highway upgrade is Australia’s largest regional infrastructure project. NSW Roads and Maritime Services will deliver the project using a Delivery Partner model similar to the approach used for the highly successful construction project for the London Olympic

Work is underway on a widening and upgrade project for the RN1 national road. The improvement project will see the route becoming a section of the North-South highway. The upgrade includes adding additional lanes, effectively doubling the width of the road. The improvement works to national road RN 1 are being carried out over its 800km length and the project should be completed at the end of 2016. Also in Algeria, a legal case is ongoing regarding the East-West highway project. Allegations of corruption h

In Honduras plans are being drawn up for the tourism corridor tollroad project. This route will connect the cities of San Pedro Sula, La Barca, El Progreso, Tela, and La Ceiba port on the Atlantic Coast, reports Business News Americas. The project has made another move forward as it has received support from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga). The 200km road project has been awarded to the consortium Autopistas del Atlántico. The aim of the project is to increase economic activity and tran

The new Luanda corridor project in Angola will receive funding worth in excess of US$216 million. Phase two of this project to build new corridors for public transportation in Luanda Province is due to commence shortly. The $14.1 million contract to supervise the project will be handled by DAR Angola. Meanwhile Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht has a $202.6 million contract to build the new transport corridors.

A series of major highway projects are in planning for Indonesia. A joint venture comprising Waskita Karya and Jasa Marga is now taking over Solo-Kertonoso Toll Road project. This follows a move by Thiess Contractor Indonesia (Thiess), which sold its 95% equity in the Solo-Kertonoso Toll Road project to the joint venture for US$33.65 million. Construction is commencing in May 2015. The 177.7km road, which is to be built as part of the Trans Java Highway, will link the cities of Kertonoso and Solo via Ngawi

Key road project tenders for the state of Tamil Nadu in India have now been awarded. The three project tenders are worth a total of US$117.1 million. The work relates to upgrading major routes in the state and work will be carried out in 36-42 months-time. The tenders involve upgrades of the Malliyakarai to Rasipuram, Thiruchengode and Erode Road, Arcot Villipuram Road and Kanchipuram to Vandavasi Road.

Delays are afflicting construction of a new highway that will connect with Algeria’s key East-West highway. The problems focus on the new highway being built to join Béjaïa with the East-West highway. The US$1.02 billion highway project was originally planned for completion by June 2016. However a shortage of construction workers from the local area for the 5,000 or so required means that personnel will have to be recruited from further afield, whether Algeria or neighbouring countries. Delays are also bein

Major problems have been seen on the M3 motorway link in Mauritius. A section of the motorway has collapsed, causing delays and frustration for drivers using the route. Insufficient drainage has been noted as one of the problems afflicting the M3 motorway between Ripailles and Valton.

The Brazilian Government now intends to evaluate plans for additional private investment in transport infrastructure. The country’s Ministry of Planning will start analysing work that was not covered under initial contracts for private investment in current road, railway and port projects. The plans represent substantial sums with an estimated total investment of US$9.76 billion in all. Under the current model, companies look for official permission to carry out work in order to improve their concessions. G

In Algeria the Japanese contracting consortium Cojaal is taking over work on the Djebel Ouahch tunnel project. This move represents a return to the positive for Cojaal in Algeria as the consortium previously had its contract on the East-West highway project terminated. Carrying on construction at Constantine, consortium Cojaal will take over work on the Djebel Ouahch tunnel. The project has faced recent challenges as the tunnel collapsed on the 1st of January 2014. In addition to the tunnel, the complete pr