Finance & Funding

Gülay Malkoc discusses the importance of investing in road maintenance.

Vietnam has major plans to develop its transportation infrastructure by 2020. The work required could cost in the order of US$45.9 billion. Of this, some 64.1% will be required to improve the national road system. The State Budget has so far provided approximately 30-40% of the financing required. However, the country has a need for international investment to further develop its transportation system. One of the barriers to PPPs has been a lack of clear policy on indirect government support. Another proble

A series of road concessions will be put out to tender in Colombia. The country’s government intends to put 11,000km of road projects out for concession by December 2018. So far 34 of the 4G highway tenders have been set into motion, including 17 as contracts, another 14 that have been awarded and three that are in the process of being awarded. Two projects from the second phase of the 4G road programme, the Sisga-El Secreto highway and the Puerta de Hierro project, have been given the green light to start

China’s northwest province of Shaanxi plans to increase its spending on highways by 22% to nearly US$8.9 billion, according to an official statement. World Highways reported last year that Shaanxi was to spend nearly $5.8 billion in 2014. Of the total, nearly $5.8 billion has been allocated for five highway construction projects totalling 261km. Within 2015, there will be 600km of new highways in the province, raising the total highway length to over 5,000km by the end of 2015. Meanwhile, 11 new

Austrian construction group Strabag will modernise the A10 Oswaldibergtunnel for Asfinag, Austria’s national motorway operator. Work on both tubes, each 4.3km long, will start this month and be finished in June 2017. The €34 million contract includes upgrading the road and tunnel surfaces as well as reinstalling all electrical and mechanical equipment. Thomas Birtel, chief executive of the Strabag Group, said in a statement that the contract will be covered by the group’s construction, engineering and c

The Moroccan Government intends for the country’s first PPP construction projects to be launched in 2016. Morocco’s Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Logistics is currently carrying out studies on over 20 PPPs. The road projects built under PPPs include the Guercif-Nador West Med, Tanger-Tétouan, Safi-Marrakech, Béni Mellal-Fès-Meknès and Agadir-Guelmim motorways.

Brazil will spend at least US$1.63 billion in privately operated federal road infrastructure projects in 2015. This is down slightly, from $1.82 billion spent in 2014, according to estimates by the land transport agency NTT. Work this year includes a stretch of the BR-050 motorway operated by MGO, which already has seen around $104 million. Road operator Concer, which administers sections of the BR-060, BR-153 and BR-262, invested nearly $88 million between 2014 and the first quarter of 2015. Arter

The new platform system MXK from German-based manufacturer Peri is easily assembled to suit site requirements. The flexible platform system with lightweight brackets is assembled at ground level, using lightweight components – scaffold support bracket stop-end rails, guardrail posts, the scaffold deck and the side mesh barriers PMB. Flexibility is the key, said Peri UK managing director Alasdair Stables during an indoor demonstration day held in the docklands area of the UK capital London. The object