Road Structures

In Portugal work is restarting on the stalled Marao tunnel project. The Portuguese Government has assured financing from the EU to complete the necessary work for the 5.7km tunnel. The contractor working on the project originally hit financial problems, resulting in the work grinding to a halt and the Portuguese Government cancelling the contract with the original concession holder. The cost of the project has estimated at €204 million and the EU may finance up to €200 million of this. The package of works

Plans are in hand for a new highway connection between Myanmar and China. The governments of the two countries have been discussing the possibility of the Myanmar-China Corridor. This route would run from Ruili in China to Kyaukphyu in Myanmar. The work is likely to be carried out under the PPP model, with a build, operate, transfer package for the winning tender. The first stage of the project will commence during 2014.

New road links are planned to connect Slovakia and its neighbour, the Czech Republic. The Slovak Ministry of Transport stated that by 2020 two new routes are planned to link the countries. The R6 expressway will run from Puchov in Slovakia and connect the Trencin region with Zlin in the Czech Republic. Meanwhile the R5 expressway will run from Svrcinovec in Slovakia and link the country’s Zilina regions with the Morava-Sliezsko region in the Czech Republic. Construction for the R6 project is expected to sta

Morocco’s road expansion programme is proving successful and meeting targets. At the end of 2013, the country had some 730km of expressways in service. The building programme continues and by 2016, the authorities hope to extend this to 1,600km. However a study into the possibility of creating expressways between industrial zones and logistics platforms now has to be carried out to help deliver the road expansion targets. One option is for building expressways that run in parallel with highways to link two

Two of China’s provinces, Shanxi and Sichuan, have announced plans to invest in infrastructure expansion. Shanxi Province has plans to invest US$3.44 billion in road construction projects during 2014. Seven new highway projects with a total length exceeding 375km will commence in the year. At the same time, 13 projects totalling 842.6km will be completed and open for traffic. Meanwhile in Sichuan Province, some US$11.56 billion will be spent on road projects during 2014. Rural roads measuring 15,000km will

In Macedonia work is now being carried out on two new highway projects. One project is for the construction of a 57km highway between Kiceva and Ohrid and the work is expected to cost €375 million. The construction work is being carried out by the Chinese contractor Sinohydro Corporation, with finance coming from China's Ex-Im Bank. The Kiceva-Ohrid highway project is expected to take four years to complete. The same contractor is also building the 47km Miladinovci-Stip highway in Macedonia, with the €206 m

Brazil has invested US$18.3 billion (43.8 billion reais) on federal highway projects during phase 2 of PAC, the country’s growth acceleration plan, according to the federal government's 9th balance report on PAC 2 works. The report, reviewing phase 2's first three years (2011-13) of the four-year programme, states that work was carried out on 3,080km of highway stretches and highlights a number of projects completed last year. Among them was the BR-376 near southern Paraná state's Maringá city, the BR-448

The Algerian Minister for Public Works, Farouk Chiali, has said that the 1,000km-long Hauts-Plateaux motorway project will begin this month, with the cost of constructing the route reaching US$8.94 billion (DZD 700 billion). Chiali said local firms will carry out the works exclusively, with the project having been divided into ten sections. Each section, requiring 36 months of work, will be attributed to a different consortium of Algerian firms. If work begins on each section at the same time, the project

China Merchants Holdings (International) Company and China Merchants Hua Jian Highway Investment Company have Sri Lankan government approval to build and operate an expressway from the capital, Colombo, to the central part of the country. With the recently won approval, both companies would plan, design, finance, build and operate the first section of the US$4.5 billion Northern Expressway system. The $1.5 billion first section of the expressway will be built in four stages, namely from Ambepussa to Kandy

Ukravtodor state highway agency is to invest €547.96 million (UAH 6.7 billion) in road construction and repair in Ukraine in 2014. The agency secured the sum via bond placement in 2012-2013.