News

Financing worth a total of US$170 million will help fund construction of Mongolia's Western Regional Road Corridor. This will be provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in a series of payments.

Road safety is expected to improve with the opening of the new Route 7 highway in Kosovo. Complete accident details were not available for 2011 but there were 94 fatal accidents and 168 killed on Kosovo's roads between January and September 2011, an increase of 8% over the previous year.

Work to construct a new stretch of Hungary’s M43 highway, linking Mako and Csanadpalota/Nagylak on the Romanian border, is costing some €212 million. The cost of the work is being split 39% and 61% by Hungarian state funds and EU funding respectively. Construction work on the 23km long section will be completed by the end of 2014. The project has to be approved by the European Commission (EC), as it will form part of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). Plans are to be submitted to the EU by the Hu

Consultant Mott MacDonald will carry out transportation planning for the development a new highway transport plan for the city of Jos in Nigeria's Plateau State.

Canadian city Montreal will invest US$$538 million (C$550 million) for infrastructure development at the eastern end of the city. Some of the funding will be used to decontaminate polluted industrial segments in the area, while the city will also provide annual funding for the Plan d'action de l'Est between 2011 and 2017. A key portion of the development project will be for the construction of the Pie IX rapid-transit corridor, which is scheduled to be completed by 2017. However, in order to finance the ove

The contractor driving the 2.1km tunnel on Bosnia’s Gacko-Foca highway has completed the necessary excavation work and is now starting on finishing the lining of the bore. This tunnel is due to open to traffic in late 2012 and some of the €37 million financing for this work has come from the government of the autonomous entity Republika Srpska. The tunnel is one of two on the route, which also features two bridges and a viaduct. Bosnian contractor Integral Inzinjering has been working on the tunnel.

The Chilean Government is planning to spend over US$2 billion on a series of large infrastructure projects. These are aimed at improving the country's links with its neighbours. The top priority projects are the Cristo Redentor pass; the Agua Negra bi-national tunnel; and the bi-oceanic rail corridor Paranagua-Antofagasta.

Renault plans to launch its electric Fluence ZE model in Europe early next year. The car is based on the proven Megane model and has been extended by127mm to provide space for the battery pack. The car is part of a €4 billion investment by Renault in partnership with Nissan on developing electric and hybrid vehicles. The Fluence ZE is driven by a 71kW motor, with power from a 280kg battery pack that allows a maximum range of 184km. Acceleration is said to be brisk from rest, while its top speed is limited t

China's Ji'an city is investing an impressive US$11.88 billion in developing transportation during the 12th Five-Year Plan, while the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is offering a loan worth US$200 million to China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The new steel-truss bridge linking Simikot in Nepal’s Humla district headquarters has now been inaugurated. The road will link Nepal with Hilsa in China and the bridge will span the Karnali River. This bridge will be completed within a year and the Nepalese Government will award the road construction to the Nepalese Army to speed work. The road was started 10 years ago but progress was slow and could not be completed due to insufficient budget. Helicopters will have to be used to carry some of the construct

The US Department of Transportation has given the go-ahead for the I-5 Columbia River Crossing project, which will link Washington and Oregon states. The plans involve replacing the existing Interstate 5 Columbia River Crossing Bridges and building a new interstate transit link.

Q-Free has been awarded an order for tags and roadside equipment from Centro Gestao Meios de Pagto (CGMP) in Brazil valued at US$8.68 million. This order is a call off from the earlier announced frame agreement of $34.25 million announced in October, 2010.