Finance & Funding

Spanish infrastructure firm Abertis is keen to develop a series of projects in Chile. In all the projects are worth over US$900 million. Abertis has presented these projects to Chile's Ministry of Public Works. This move follows the acquisition by Abertis of the remaining 50% stock holding in the country's Autopista Central motorway concession. This was bought from Canadian fund manager Alberta Investment Management (AIMCo) for over $1 billion.

French telehandler manufacturer Manitou reports good sales for its fourth quarter in 2015. The firm achieved sales of €333 million for its fourth quarter in 2015, an 8% increase over the same period in 2014. Meanwhile sales for the full-year were also up by 3% in 2015 at €1.287 billion compared with the full-year for 2014. The order intake for its equipment in the fourth quarter of 2015 hit €322 million compared with €298 million in the same period in 2014. And the order book at the end of the fourth quarte

Jakarta’s chronic congestion problems look set to be eased slightly with the construction of two new elevated roads. These will be built over the Semanggi interchange in South Jakarta and work will commence in April 2016, with copmletion expected in 2017. The new links will connect South Jakarta's Kebayoran Baru and Ratu Plaza, East Jakarta's Cawang and West Jakarta's Grogol. The Japanese contractor building the new elevated links has also sourced the necessary funding for the work.

Construction work for a new bridge spanning the Danube River and linking Hungary and Slovakia has been delayed. The work will now commence on the project in September 2016. The new bridge will connect the town of Komarom in Hungary with Komarno in Slovakia. The project was delayed temporarily by changes to procurement rules in Hungary. The bridge is expected to be complete in the second quarter of 2019 and a portion of the funding for the new bridge will be provided by EU sources.

Loans worth a total of US$243 million will help pay for the rebuilding of the Chinsali-Nakonde road in Zambia. The loans are being provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB) based in Ivory Coast and Africa Growing Together Fund. The AfDB is offering a loan of $193 million for the project while the Africa Growing Together Fund is offering $50 million. The Chinsali-Nakonde road is of key importance for trade as it connects Tanzania and Zambia.

Weissenhorn-based company PERI has bought the Silvergreen site in Günzburg. Peri said the location will complement its main plant in Weissenhorn because expansion possibilities there are very limited.

The Indonesian Government is looking to source funding for a key highway project from the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The funding will be used for the highway connecting North and East Kalimantan. This project is expected to cost US$250 million.

Belgium is considering tolling options as a mean to fund necessary road and tunnel developments and upgrades. The Brussels region is expected to spend between €500 million and €1 billion in order to update a series of key tunnel connections, with tolling being considered to raise a part of the funds required. A toll could be applied for the Léopold II tunnel during peak hours. According to Belgian consultancy company Stratec, traffic congestion could be reduced in Brussels by implementing an area charge dur

The provincial British Columbia government in western Canada has chosen a Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain (DBFOM) procurement model for the Vancouver region’s 10-lane bridge replacement for the ageing Massey Tunnel. The US$2.5 billion project includes a bridge and related Highway 99 improvements between Bridgeport Road in the adjacent city of Richmond and Highway 91 in the city of Delta. The 60-year-old tunnel now carries its limit of 80,000 vehicles a day and is often congested during rush hours.

India’s Ministry of Transport and Highways is looking to source loans to help fund highway development. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) looks set to provide a partial source for the funding required. In all just over US$885 million will be needed to pay for India’s National Highway Development Project (NHDP). The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has approved a loan of just over $590 million for the Indian Government-run National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corp (NH