Finance & Funding

Construction work for a new expressway and tunnel project in Laos will commence in early 2018. The 113.5km route will connect capital Vientane, in the south of the country, with Vangvieng. A 679m tunnel will be constructed at Phoupha Mountain between Naxaithong district and Vangvieng district. The project is costing US$1.2 billion to construct and will be carried out by a China and Laos joint venture.

A Mostostal Warszawa consortium has reportedly made the lowest bids to build three sections of the S19 from Nisko to Sokolow Malopolski in south-eastern Poland. The consortium’s bid was just over €187 million in total. Other bids which were received from a Strabag consortium and a Budimex consortium.

Argentina is setting out a major road development programme. The country has plans for 16 key road projects, with road building and development plans for some 7,000km of routes in all. Called the new Safe Motorway and Road Network, the programme will be worth an impressive US$16.7 billion. The first six of the planned routes will be developed under the PPP model. A portion of the construction work will be paid for through special taxes on fuel.

Papua New Guinea is to benefit from major infrastructure development, which is being funded by Chinese sources.

The consortium FCC Corredor de las Playas I has won the contract to widen the first section of the Inter-American Highway. FCC Corredor de las Playas I consists of FCC Construcción and CICSA – the infrastructures and construction division of the Grupo Carso. The Inter-American Highway will be widened along nearly 38km to six lanes between La Chorrera and Santa Cruz in the province of Panama Oeste in Panama at a cost of around US$543 million, according to the consortium. The project includes enlarging the

Preparation work for the improvement of the road connecting Uganda with Tanzania is being provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB). Funding worth US$1.5 million is being given by the AfDB to pay for the preparation work. The new road will connect Masaka in Uganda with Kagera in Tanzania and forms part of a programme to improve connections across East Africa. The road project is being carried out in three separate sections. One stretch measures 133km and runs from Kumunazi, through Bugene to Kasulo in

A loan of US$100 million will help pay for road improvements in Swaziland. The loan will be used to improve up to 200km of unsealed roads. Chemical stabilisers from Malaysian firm Probase will be acquired to help boost road quality and to reduce problems caused by seasonal weather conditions. Stabiliser compounds can prevent unsealed roads from becoming excessively muddy during the rainy season. The Swaziland Finance Ministry was given government approval to request the loan, which has a 15 year repayment

A degree of confusion now surrounds a proposed road project for New Zealand worth US$1.32 billion. The proposal was for a four lane road link to connect State Highway 20 with State Highway 1, close to Mount Wellington on the southern side of Auckland. The project called for upgrades to an existing road as well as the construction of new pedestrian and cycling facilities and new link roads for Penrose and Onehunga. Although approval has been given for the work, the New Zealand Government has now decided not