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The Nepalese Government is opening up an expression of interest process that will generate a shortlist to carry out the Kathmandhu-Terai/Madhes Fast Track Road project. The new Kathmandhu-Nijgadh expressway will run for 76km and its construction will involve building a twin tube tunnel 1.35km long and eight bridges. The project will be carried out under the PPP model and construction costs are likely to be in the region of US$844 million. Nepal may well look to neighbouring China for at least a portion of t

Poland is planning to enter seven transport projects to the Connecting Europe Programme, with these having a combined value close to €2.86 billion. Among the planned projects are the S61 express road between the Lithuanian border and Augustow. Meanwhile STRABAG and Budimex have formed a consortium that will construct a 41km stretch of the A4 highway in Poland. The section of the route runs from Rzeszów to Jarosław, in south-eastern Poland. The project is expected to take 14 months to complete and the contra

TISPOL operations focusing on truck and bus safety across Europe have yielded major safety benefits, as well as tackling criminal offences. The police work targeting trucks led to the discovery of nearly 1,200 illegal immigration and human trafficking offences. The action followed checks on nearly 140,000 trucks across 27 countries. A total of 44,859 offences were detected, including 421 drivers charged with alcohol and drug offences, 5,054 offences of exceeding the speed limit and 5,074 instances of driver

A new tunnel will connect the coastal town of Rize with Erzurum in Turkey. The 14.3km Ovit Tunnel is costing US$270.3 million to construct and is due to open to traffic in 2016. Opening the tunnel will reduce the journey time between Rize and Erzurum as the new route will cut the distance from 250-200km. The new route will also provide greater safety for drivers, particularly in winter time as conditions along the existing route can be difficult. So far around 12km of the tunnel has been constructed. Meanw

The Colombian Government is looking to cancel the contract for the construction of the La Linea tunnel. This project has already been beset by an array of problems since it was first conceived and now looks set to be further delayed. Work was supposed to have been 20% complete by March 2014, however a series of delays had put the project far behind schedule and by March 2014, only 12% of the work had been carried out. In June 2014, the project was supposed to be 50% complete, but work was in fact just 14% h

A series of highway projects are either underway or being planned in Russian capital Moscow. Russian road authority Avtodor is inviting bids for construction and maintenance of the Central Ring Road's fifth start-up facility in the Moscow region. The road section will be 76km long and the concession package will be for 24 years. The maximum price of the contract has been set at US$1.14 billion. Is also opening bids for construction of the M11 Moscow-St Petersburg motorway's 208-258 km section. The project w

The Zambian Government is planning a major road infrastructure programme, in a bid to boost the country’s connectivity and help continue with its economic growth. The country has established the Link Zambia 8000 project, which is being carried out in a series of phases. The first phase will include the upgrade of some 2,290km of roads and could cost in the region of US$1.5 billion to implement. The World Bank is currently evaluating plans for the second phase of the project. Funding sources have yet to be r

In the UK, the construction business Connect Plus Services is implementing new practices that reduce the need for crossings of live carriageways. These practices are expected to save the lives of road construction workers. Connect Plus Services is the company that has the contract to maintain, operate and upgrade the M25 motorway around London over a 30-year period. The contract is carried out on behalf of the Highways Agency. The firm has developed a new method of managing traffic approaching road construc

Work is now starting on the road links that will connect to the new Mersey Gateway Bridge, close to the UK city of Liverpool. The first work is being carried out at Junction 12 of the M56 in Runcorn, with workers commencing site clearance at the roundabout where the motorway joins the Weston Point Expressway (A557). This will take around six months to complete, with much of the work being carried out during off-peak traffic times so as to minimise congestion and this portion of the project should be finishe

The Russian authorities are further developing plans for the new bridge that will span the Kerch Strait. The bridge is now expected to cost some US$6.1 billion to construct and the completion date is expected in 2018. The work will be overseen by the Russian road authority Avtodor. This will be the first bridge crossing of the Kerch Strait since a short-lived structure was erected in the 1940s. The design will have to cope with severe winter weather and the project will be challenging technically.

An improved highway link is set to boost transport connections between Lithuanian capital Vilnius and the city of Utena. The 72.5km highway will be carried out as a PPP project. The Lithuanian Ministry of Transport and Communications has said that the current link will be resurfaced so as to provide an improved highway for drivers and the work looks set to be finished in three years. The contract will also involve a 10 year maintenance programme once the construction work is complete. The resurfacing work w

The organisers of the Plantworx 2015 construction equipment event in the UK are bullish for the success of the exhibition. With nine months to go before the show opens its doors, 65% of the stand space has been sold already with 140 exhibitors booked. This will be the second Plantworx exhibition and is taking place in nine months’ time at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, Leicestershire, UK. Meanwhile only 25% of the space in the working demonstration areas now remains. Exhibitors booked in so far include A &Y Equi

The Kenyan Government has ambitious plans for road infrastructure development. The country’s new road expansion programme will be funded in part by commercial banks and other financial institutions, which will provide some US$2.93 billion. This will help pay for the three year road construction programme. The Kenyan Government aims to negotiate for loans from financing institutions with the funds then being provided to contractors to construct and maintain roads. The first phase of the programme will be to

Official figures reveal a worrying rate of road crashes within Latin America’s Andean Community of Nations (CAN). The data shows that in 2013, 13,479 people died in vehicle crashes in the CAN group, which includes Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. A further 141,175 people were injured in the CAN nations in 2013, while there were 347,018 crashes, an increase of 0.2% over the figures for 2012. Ecuador saw a particularly poor safety record during this period with its number of crashes increasing by 18.1%. T