News

Malaysia’s construction boom has reached its peak, according to a new Business Monitor (BM) report on the country’s infrastructure investment. The leading global independent business research data provider’s report states that Malaysia’s construction activity in Q2 2013 represented the lowest pace of expansion since Q4 2011. BM expects this slowdown to intensify, primarily due to falling demand for residential and non-residential buildings, as well as concerns about Malaysia's fiscal position. These concer

Yanmar has acquired 6.26% of the capital and voting rights of Manitou. The move, through shares acquired from the French bank Société Générale, comes as the two construction equipment manufacturing groups are enhancing their strategic alliance by expanding cross distribution into Mexico and Latin America. Takehito Yamaoka, president of Yanmar, said, “Manitou is well-respected as the market leader in telescopic handlers, so it is exciting for Yanmar to have a closer relationship with them through this capi

Telensa, a leading UK-based ‘smart’ street lighting technology company, achieved sales of US$13 million and pre-tax profit of $2 million for the year ending 31 March 2013. The sales growth of just under 20% on the US$10.9 million achieved in 2011-12 is said to be the result of the company securing contracts from further UK street light contractors and local authorities for its PLANet (Public Lighting Active Network) wireless street light central management system (CMS).

The Serbian Government is preparing its plans for a programme of transport infrastructure improvements and upgrades. According to the country’s Ministry of Transport, the work is desperately needed to improve Serbia’s dilapidated transport infrastructure. The poor state of the country’s transport network is said to cost the country’s economy some €500 million/year, as well as resulting in an excessive number of road deaths and injuries. Serbian highway company Putevi Srbije is currently working on improvem

A new programme of works in Chile will see major maintenance being carried out on the country’s extensive network of secondary roads. The plans have been set out by the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) and the works will be offered under a new concession framework that is planned to be announced in the first quarter of 2014. The works will require up to 30% of the MOP's annual budget, some US$594 million. Meanwhile MOP has also signed a deal with the highway operator Autopista de Aconcagua. This will see upgr

Plans are in hand for a US$616.6 million highway project in Yibin, China. China Roads, Xingtai Road and Bridge Construction and Sichuan Yibin Yili Group have signed concession and investment agreements for the Yibin-Yiliang and Yibin highways with the authorities in the city of Yibin. Work will commence before the end of this year on the western section of the 39km Yibin boundary-crossing highway. The project is expected to take three years to complete. Meanwhile, work on the 130km Yibin-Yiliang highway wil

The European Commission has selected some 172 transport infrastructure projects to receive EUR €1.6 billion in funding. The projects are all listed as high priority targets for the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) programme. The various projects have been selected as they have all been identified as providing major improvements to Europe’s transport infrastructure. A total of 53 priority projects will receive €1.044 billion.

Cost increases have hit the construction of a new highway in Bangladesh. The highway will connect capital Dhaka with Mymensingh. The 87km highway was originally expected to cost US$128 million. However, it now looks set to cost close to $237 million. The project has been beset by delays. The lead contractors for the project are Metallurgical Construction Company of China (MCCC) and Major Bridge Engineering Company (MBEC).

Construction work is underway on a key bridge connection in Vietnam. The Cao Lanh Bridge is located in Vietnam’s Dong Thap Province and its construction is costing an estimated US$145 million. The bridge will span the Tien River and the link is expected to open for traffic in 2017. The structure is designed to carry six lanes of traffic, with provision also for cyclists and pedestrians. Once complete it will connect Lap Vo District with Cao Lanh Town. Funding for the bridge project has been provided jointly

Testing equipment specialist CONTROLS is opening a new facility in the Middle East. The company now has a subsidiary operation in Iraq’s Kurdish region, which is intended to boost the presence of the CONTROLS business in the region. Called TE CONTROLS, the business is located in Erbil and offers the firm’s range of soil, asphalt and concrete testing technologies including basic and sophisticated systems, while also providing sales and service support.