Finance & Funding

In Chile plans are well in hand for a series of major infrastructure projects, with the work likely to help boost the country’s economy. The Ministry of Public Works in Chile (MOP) has announced that it will speed up the process for key infrastructure construction projects. Those projects involving investments of around US$1.10 billion should be approved by 11th March 2015. The Ministry of Public Works has indicated that three private concession contracts have already been approved, including the dual-carri

Japan has agreed in principle to provide financial assistance to Thailand for road construction and upgrades in connection with the East-West Economic Corridor. The corridor is based on 1,450km of highway running across four Southeast Asian countries. The idea of investing in the corridor was originally proposed during a multi-national ministerial conference in Manila, Philippines, in 1998. Much of the route had been completed by 2010, according to review document by Asian Development Bank. It also noted t

Brazil’s roads are improving, but more than 49,000km remain in a fair, bad or very bad state, according to the latest figures from the National Confederation of Transport. Nearly half of roads are considered fair or worse, down from three-quarters in the NCT’s last survey in 2004. The NCT represents around 124,000 cargo and passenger transportation businesses and more than 824,000 independent truck drivers. The survey took into account paving, road routes and signalling and found the 10 best roads in

Spain’s Castilla-La Mancha government lays out 12-year road plan Spain’s regional government of Castilla-La Mancha will spend around US$282 million on new road infrastructure as part of a major 12-year highways strategy. Castilla-La Mancha approved the Third Regional Roads Plan this month which envisaged spending upwards of $1.6 billion in the 12 years. The plan will be reviewed every four years. The landlocked autonomous region of Castilla-La Mancha lies mostly southeast of Madrid and includes

The Kenyan government will pay nearly US$557 million (€446 million) annually to contractors for building 10,000km of roads over eight years. A special annuity fund was also set up to fund road construction that will be under a new private finance initiative programme. The work, to be done in phases, will start by the end of this year. The first phase is for 3,000km, of which 1,940km will be managed by Kenya Rural Roads Authority and 365km by Kenya Urban Roads Authority. Kenya Highways Authority wil

IronPlanet, a US-based on online marketplace for buying and selling used heavy equipment, has acquired Kruse Energy and Equipment Auctioneers for an undisclosed sum. Kruse is based in Odessa, Texas, and Oklahoma City and focuses on oilfield equipment. It conducts auctions in the United States and Canada. Kruse has conducted more than 90% of the energy auctions in the United States in the past 25 years. Kruse will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of IronPlanet, maintaining its brand and employees. Co-

Angloa will build a 26km ring road to connect the cities of Quilemba and Eywa in the southwestern province of Huila. The 9m wide road will cost around US$43.24 million and be completed in 18 months, Angola’s national news agency ANGOP reported. The governor of Huila, João Marcelino Tyipinge, announced the project in Lubango, capital city of the province. Anglo recently announced that the final stretch of the road from the national capital Luanda on the southern coast to the strategic city of Soyo in the