Finance & Funding

A series of road development projects will now move ahead in India’s Karnataka State. Some US$536.51 million is being budgeted by the Union Surface Transport Ministry. This includes funding for road projects in the twin cities of Dharwad and Hubballi. The funds will be used to surface six main roads in Dharwad, 13 main roads in Hubballi and nine roads in Dharwad and Hubballi.

Hill & Smith Holdings reports a healthy performance for the period 1 July 2016 to 31 October 2016. The firm’s board says that trading has continued to be encouraging and that it expects Group trading performance for the current financial year to be at the top end of market expectations. The group’s results will also benefit from the positive translational impact on its overseas earnings from the recent weakness in Sterling.

Plans are moving forward with regard to the Iloilo-Guimaras-Negros Bridge in the Philippines. Building the 13.2km bridge is expected to cost up to US$457 million and take three years to be completed once the construction gets underway. The bridge will be built in the Visayas Region of the Philippines and would link a number of islands, replacing the ferry services in use at present. Chinese expertise may be employed to help design and construct the link while South Korean sources could deliver a portion of

The Australian state of Victoria will benefit from US$2.26 billion (A$3 billion) in funding for planned road projects. This financing will be split equally by the Federal Government and the Victoria State Government. Some $520 million (A$690 million) will be spent on regional and rural road projects while $753.3 million (A$1 billion) will be used to upgrade the Monash Freeway as well as for other works including improving the M80 Ring Road.