Finance & Funding

Ferrovial’s subsidiary Cintra is part of a joint venture that has been selected as preferred respondent for the Western Roads Upgrade project in western Melbourne. The State of Victoria awarded the deal to Netflow, a joint venture between Plenary and Cintra with a focus on road projects in Australia and New Zealand. The win includes Ferrovial subsidiaries Broadspectrum and Amey taking charge of maintenance on the project worth nearly US$1.4 billion. The overall contract is for the design, construction and

A new highway is planned in Bangladesh that will improve transport links to Dhaka’s airport. The route will run between Ashulia on the north-eastern side of the Bangladesh capital and Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. The construction project is intended to boost trade and transport and is expected to cost US$2.06 billion. The Bangladesh Government is giving its approval for the project and will provide $725.3 million of the financing required from its own budget.

A new bypass project in the Philippines will benefit from funding being supplied by Japan. The Bulacan Bypass project will be located on Luzon Island and will improve transport connections to and from the Bulacan area, lying to the northeast of the capital Manila. The new bypass road will connect Central Luzon to Metro Manila. Once the route is open to traffic, it is expected to improve journey times and cut congestion for drivers. The complete financing package has yet to be agreed between the two

The preparatory work is underway for a stretch of the Ipswich Motorway widening project in Queensland Australia. The project is worth around US$318.6 million (A$400 million). This first section of the widening work is 3km long and runs from Granard Road at Rocklea to the Oxley roundabout. The work involves widening the route from four lanes at present to six lanes and improving seven bridges, which includes increasing the height of the bridge over Oxley Creek. The 10km widening project is intended to reduce

India is setting out ambitious plans to further develop its infrastructure, with a renewed focus on the north east of the country. A budget of US$22.35 billion has been set out by the Indian Government for infrastructure projects, for which highway construction will play a major part. The states in line for this infrastructure development are: Arunachal, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Pradesh and Sikkim. Details of the individual projects being planned have yet to be released however.

European-based construction group Strabag, through its Polish subsidiaries, has won three road contracts from Poland’s General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA). The total contract value is split among two lots along the S19 north of Warsaw for €73 million and €43 million as well as one lot along the S61 in southern Poland for €54 million. “Poland is our third most important market [and] we celebrated our 30th anniversary there,” said Thomas Birtel, chief executive of Strabag Group.

The World Bank is starting a technical review of a Brasov-Ploiesti motorway with a view to extending a financial package for construction. According to the Ziarul Financiar newspaper, the Romanian government is seeking financial support after its failed attempts to establish a public-private partnership. The 110km Brasov-Ploiesti highway is part of the planned 600km A3 Motorway that connects the capital Bucharest in the southeast with the Transylvanian commune of Bors on the Hungarian border in the

Serbia has signed a deal with Power China to construct the Ostruznica-Bubanj Potok section of the capital Belgrade’s ring road.