News

A US$11.8 million contract in Zambia will be handled by Irish engineering consultant Nicholas O'Dwyer. The firm has the contract for design review, financial and technical supervision of a major road project. The 350km dual carriagway will connect Lusaka with Ndola and pass through Kite. This is expected to cost $1.2 billion, while construction will take 36 months. Building the dual carriageway will provide better transport to and from a number of the country’s copper mines, which are important for the Zamb

Funding is being secured for a road rebuild and widening project in Tajikistan. The 82km road runs between Dushanbe and Bokhtar and the work should be complete by 2023. The Chinese contractor Xinjiang Beixin is working on phase 1 of the project, building a 33km stretch of the route that is costing US$96 million. Phase 2 of the project is for a 40km section of the route, with construction due to start in the second half of 2018. The phase 2 construction work will be financed by $90 million of funding being s

A new interchange is being built in the city of Casablanca, Morocco that will improve traffic flow. Casablanca suffers heavily from congestion at peak periods and the Nœud A interchange development project is expected to reduce jams and improve journey times for drivers. The project is nearly ready and features 12 bridges, while it is costing US$74 million. The interchange is expected to handle 18,800 vehicles/hour at peak periods by 2025, according to projections for Morocco’s economic development and anti

Major road repairs are now required on a busy highway route in Mexico. The Cuernavaca bypass in Morelos State now features a large sinkhole, a mere 300m from the location of another sinkhole that opened up in mid-2017. The Paso Expres bypass cost US$104.4 million and was constructed by the contractors Aldesa and Epcor. The previous sinkhole opening resulted in two fatalities. The project has been criticised for inadequacies with regard to the drainage installed during construction.

Poland will use the public-private partnership model for four road sections worth in total €2.32 billion. The roads are the S6 running from Koszalin to the DK6 at Bozepole Wielkie, the S10 from Bydgoszcz to Torun, the western ring-road of Szczecin and the ring-road around the TriCity metropolis. Tenders will be issued likely by the end of the year or the first quarter 2019, according to Polish media. The decision to adopt the PPP model for infrastructure projects is partly a response to the reduction

The European Union will fund €265 million for construction of the last section of the M4 motorway, linking Budapest, Hungary with the Romanian border. The money will come from the EU’s Cohesion Fund that targets projects designed to boost local and regional economies and promote tourism. The link's starting point is at the junction where the M35 motorway, which connects Berettyóújfalu and Debrecen.

Technology specialist Bluebeam is broadening its portfolio with the acquisition of the privately owned firm Project Atlas. The purchase will expand Bluebeam’s capabilities as Project Atlas developed a digital mapping engine that uses geo-location instead of traditional folder structures to organise and visualise 2D plans and construction data. This location-based orientation allows design and construction professionals to create and search a digital map of their project that contains plans, people, material

The organisers of the 2019 Plantworx construction machinery exhibition in the UK are bullish about the show’s potential, being held on the 11th, 12th and 13th June 2019. Being sited at a new venue, the East of England showground, and being co-located with the Railworx exhibition is expected to attract both more exhibitors and more visitors. Plantworx is being organised by the Construction Equipment Association (CEA), while Railworx is being organised by Rail Media, with the two bodies working together to pr

Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, has been awarded a statewide procurement engineering contract from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The deal will see Atkins assisting TxDOT with alternative delivery procurement needs throughout the state. “Our role is to review and analyse the approaches outlined in submittals from design-builders or others to ensure they can commit to and meet TxDOT’s alternative delivery expectations,” said Wes Burford, senior project director in SNC-Lavalin’s

CONTROLS and the Politecnico di Milano have established a three-year partnership, due to start this coming academic year. The agreement was signed by CONTROLS CEO Andrea Certo (Alumnus 1992 of the Politecnico di Milano) and by the university chancellor Ferruccio Resta. This alliance brings together two areas of excellence to help the potential of the Italian industry and academic world to emerge on an international level. CONTROLS operates in 121 countries all over the world and is in constant contact wit