Finance & Funding

The lack of maintenance and investment into road infrastructure has once again raised its head within the African road construction and development sector. This puts pressure on contractors and maintenance teams across everywhere, in turn putting businesses at risk. How to manage road maintenance in today’s economic climate will be the focus of the upcoming African Road Infrastructure and Investment Congress, coming to Cape Town September 4-6. The theme Accelerating Road Development will address the

Financing worth US$150 million is being provided by the World Bank, which will be used to help pay for road development work in Mozambique. The funding will be aimed at upgrades to roads in Mozambique’s Nampula Province and Zambezia Province. One of the key upgrades will be to a 70km section of the road connecting Namacurra with Quelimane. The aim of the work is to improve transport for the agricultural sector in the respective provinces.

A funding package will help pay for road rebuilding work in Kazakhstan. The US$106 million of financing is being supplied by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. This will be used to pay for improvements to a 67km stretch of the Kurty-Kapshagai highway connecting capital Almaty with the city of Astana.

XCMG is planning to establish a new factory in India, as revealed recently by the firm’s chairman Wang Min. He said that the XCMG Group intends to invest US$150 million into building a new factory in India. He recently visited all the Schwing factories in India to better understand the market and listen to reports made by top management about operations and future sales expansion. At the same time, he also made surveys of the Indian market, met with local dealers, convened meetings and made clear

Mozambique’s Maputo-Catembe Bridge is due to open shortly and will become Africa’s longest suspension bridge. The 3km bridge will form part of the road connection between Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, and Catembe. The bridge is costing over US$700 million, with much of the necessary funding being provided by the Export Import Bank of China. The new bridge will improve transport and reduce journey times for drivers, who currently have to rely on ferries travelling between Maputo and Catembe.

New highway bypasses are being planned for South Kazakhstan. The routes will bypass the cities of Shymkent and Sarygash and will feature two lanes in either direction. The projects are costing US$303.5 million in all to construct. A portion of the necessary funding for constrution and operation of these bypasses will be provided via grant from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).