News

German company Ubitricity has developed a concept which allows for the recharging of electric vehicles at street lamps. Local authorities in Berlin, where Ubitricity is based, are said to be not averse to the idea of converting hundreds of street lamps to charging points. Ubitricity's concept provides for the integration of a counting system into an intelligent charging cable. This counting system contacts a control centre via mobile radio. The control centre registers after every charging where and how muc

The Ministry of Public Works (MOP) in Panama will put the rehabilitation and expansion of the 208km Santiago de Veraguas-David road out to tender in mid-2013. The works, part of which will create a larger four-lane highway, have been calculated to cost around US$ 700 million. Since 2009, President Ricardo Martinelli has contracted turn-key projects worth $3.4 billion.

China Railway Construction has won tenders worth US$2.68 billion (CNY 16.67bn) to develop Chinese highways. The projects will be implemented on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. These are said to be inclusive of the 63.47km Liaocheng-Xiajin section of the Shandong Deshang highway, the 72.41km Yutai-Jining section of the Xuzhou-Jinan highway, and the 82.79km Xing'an-Ziyuan highway.

Miodrag Jocic, State Secretary from the Serbian Ministry of Construction, , said the Chinese company Shandong High Speed Group (SHSG) will begin construction of Serbia’s new Corridor 11 motorway in March 2013. The Lajkovac-Ljig section of the project is said by Jocic to be completely ready for construction. The overall project value is estimated at US$333 million. Jocic said that the parts between Surcinska Petlja to Obrenovac in Belgrade, and from Preljina to Pozega will be most likely financed with a conc

The Volgograd region (South) authorities will allot over US$231 million (RUB 7bn) for roads in 2013. A total of $82.64 million will be provided for construction, about $92.56 million for repairing and maintaining regional road facilities.

Work is now underway to set up the tolling system for Algeria’s East-West highway. The project is costing US$1.29 billion and will be carried out by three different consortia, owing mainly to the length of the route. Work for the eastern stretch of the highway will be carried out by a consortium comprising the Italian groups CMC, Proger, Cordioli & C, Ducati Italia and Tecnositaf, and the Algerian groups Rotahem and Imet. This will cost some $378.5 million. Meanwhile the work for the western stretch of the

An innovative project in the UK is aimed at replicating photosynthesis in a bid to produce biofuels. This project is being carried out by a team at the University of East Anglia (UEA), with assistance from the University of Cambridge and the University of Leeds. The intention is to find a simple and efficient process for producing hydrogen, with funding coming from the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences research council. The hydrogen produced using this technology then be used either as a fuel for i

Germany intends to refurbish or replace at least 300 road bridges between now and 2020. It’s reported that this will result in costs of between US$ 4.81 billion (€3.60bn) and $8.92 billion (€6.7bn), based on 2010 prices. Many of the bridges affected are from the 1960s to 1980s and thought no longer suitable for the heavy transport traffic of today. Another claimed factor behind the necessity for the multi-billion dollar investment is that damage resulting from global warming was not taken into account when

The Construction Equipment Association (CEA) has been awarded a key Saudi Arabia Trade Mission by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) to enhance Saudi construction and mining equipment supply chains with UK manufacturers. The Trade Mission will also focus on opportunities to develop skills, training and education in the construction and mining sectors in Saudi Arabia. Also working on behalf of the British Embassy and Consulates in Saudi Arabia, the CEA trade mission between 16th and 20th March 2013 includes a top-

The Tulsa Port of Catoosa has opened a new bulk salt storage facility for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) in the United States. Erected by Legacy Building Solutions, the massive tension fabric structure provides 45,359tonnes (50,000tons) of storage capacity for roadway deicing salt, nearly doubling ODOT’s available storage across the state. “ODOT will distribute the salt stored at this new location to maintenance distribution sheds ahead of impending snow or ice events during the winter,” s

The new urban tunnel project under construction at Maastricht in the Netherlands will benefit from EU for key safety features. The European Union will provide co-financing of €5 million from the TEN-T Programme to install safety provisions for the on-going implementation of Maastricht’s E25/A2 urban highway tunnel. The work will help ensure the link features high standards of tunnel safety and security and meets the EU’s tough legislation. The project was selected for funding under the 2011 TEN-T Annual Cal