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The British Cement Association (BCA) has welcomes the agreement reached between the European Council of Ministers, the European Parliament, and the European Commission on the energy and climate change package. Dr Pal Chana, BCA chief executive, said: “Our biggest fear was that in the rush to get a deal under the French Presidency, industry would be left behind and critical sectors such as cement would be exposed to unfair international competition that simply moved manufacturing to non-carbon constrained c

The Swedish Road Administration (Vägverket) says preliminary figures that point to a lower level of road fatalities in Sweden in 2008. The data suggests accident levels could be at the lowest level since the 1930s. About 400 people were killed on Swedish roads in 2008 until 18th December, compared with 457 during the same period 2007. Some six fatalities were reported to the Administration during the Christmas period ending 26th December, compared with an average 10. The main reason for the lower fatality r

Work is in hand for a new Formula 1 racetrack in Moscow. The facility will be built by Strategiya and will be located close to Volokolamsk. The facility will be designed to hold up to 100,000 spectators. Parking for 10,000 cars will be built although this could be increased if required. Contractor Avtoban will build the track itself while Stroytekh will construct buildings and structures and Siemens/PKE will equip the track with the necessary electronic. The project is costing some US$151 million.

Spain’s General Traffic Office (DGT) reported a 20.4% drop in the number of deaths in traffic accidents during 2008. The number of people killed on the country’s roads fell to 2,180 in 2008 compared with 2,471 in 2007. On average around six people/day die on Spain’s roads and the government is keen to continue with its measures to reduce this figure further. Actions taken so far include the introduction of a new driving licence points system, more speed cameras, awareness campaigns and an increased police p

The Inzhtransstroj Building Corporation is reported as having delivered three modernised routes for regular use in Russia: two sections of the M-9 federal carriageway in Tversk district, a section of the Amur federal express line (from Chita to Khabarovsk) and the Kirov-Kotlas-Arkhangelsk route. The corporation’s contract portfolio contains around 20 road construction projects valued at E1.3 billion. In addition to construction of the Amur route, the company is currently working in Tversk, Lipec, Moscow and

The EBRD is investing in the largest infrastructure project in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) to date by lending €180 million to the state to construct key sections of the Trans-European Corridor Vc. A key transport artery linking BiH with the rest of Europe, Corridor Vc starts in Budapest, Hungary and ends in the Adriatic Port of Ploce in Croatia. It runs north to south through the centre of BiH, and is the most strategically important link for regional trade and economic development. The €180 million EBRD finan

The Hungarian national motorway company Nemzeti Infrastruktura Fejleszto (NIF) is planning to spend €3.02 billion on rail and road infrastructure projects during this year. Key highway projects include the construction works on 51 trunk road sections, 14 highway sections and there will also be six rail infrastructure projects. The total length of new rail and road infrastructure will extend for a total of 865km. Construction works will be carried out on the M0 ring road, on the M3, M6, M9 and M43 highways a

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is appraising an application for the financing of several highway sections that the Slovak government has decided to build under a public-private partnership (PPP) programme. A consortium of environmental and energy focused NGOs has been making its case about “the troubling implications of these projects.”

Measures are to be taken by Skanska to adapt to an anticipated decline in activities in the Nordic area. The measures are expected to affect 2,000 employees in Sweden and 1,400 in the remainder of the Nordic region at a cost of approximately €56 million, says the company. In Skanska’s nine-month report for 2008, the group announced that several construction and residential development markets are weakening. A review of the current order backlog and anticipated order bookings has indicated a volume decline o