News

Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transport is looking to inject US$84.2 million into the Road Studies and Projects Programme in 2018. The studies are geared towards increasing the efficiency of the national road agency Direccion General de Carreteras to keep projects on budget and improve the record of completion times for new roads and upgrade works. During 2018, the agency will be conducting studies related to 14 projects as part of the National Infrastructure Programme and 91 projects inc

The reinforced Chambon Tunnel in the southeast French Alps region will open on schedule by the end of the year. The tunnel, which carries the D1091, was partially reopened at the end of last year following a landslide in 2015 along the mountain through with the bore is located. Local media report that from the end of this month, the tunnel will be closed again for the final phase of lining work. The road connects Bourg d’Oisans and the Col du Lautaret and Col du Galibier.

Construction of the 25km Lasva-Travnik express road in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been delayed, according to the government. Adnan Terzic, director of the motorways company Autoceste FBiH, said the issue is funding and the company is awaiting release of around €92 million by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Construction has started on the final section of the bypass around Vologda, a city of around 305,000 on the Vologda River in northwest Russia. Russian media report that the first three phases of the project have been launched. The total cost of the works is US$219 million.

Mott MacDonald is providing design work for 20km of the Loubiere to Bagatelle road rehabilitation project in Dominica. The client, Dominica’s ministry of public works, is repairing the route following significant damage by tropical storm Erika in 2015. A grant from the UK’s Department for International Development has been provided to Dominica through the Caribbean Development Bank. Completion of works Mott MacDonald’s work is expected in 2019.

The UK’s CEA - Construction Equipment Association – has appointed David Bell, a director of JCB, as the trade association’s first honorary president. Bell joined JCB in 1974 as a graduate trainee, following an engineering apprenticeship at Rolls Royce in the city of Derby. During his 43-year career at JCB, Bell has held a variety of senior roles, including managing director of JCB sales and service, JCB agriculture, JCB’s backhoe loader and telescopic handler. He was also group human resources direct

A consortium including engineering design group Obermeyer Helika has won a consultancy contract for a planned D4 motorway project in the Czech Republic. Construction of the 32km Milin-Mirotice motorway section, a public-private partnership, is scheduled to start in 2019. A PPP might be also used for the Prague-Chomutov D7 section.

Estonia’s Road Administration and infrastructure company. TREV-2 Grupp has signed a €51 million contract for construction of a new four-lane section of highway between Kose and Ardu. The work will shorten the length of the of the Tallinn-Tartu highway by around 5km. The construction is scheduled in August 2017 with completion in 2020. The new section will allow speeds of up to 120kph, according to the government.

The Indonesian government is courting private investment and encouraging bids for major projects on Madura, an island off the northeastern coast of Java, another island. Madura is part of the East Java province and is separated from Java by the narrow Strait of Madura. The first project would be a 15.3km toll bridge costing likely around US$160 million which would allow access to a planned port, said Herman Hidayat, acting head of the Surabaya-Madura Development Agency.

Poland’s road authority GDDKiA said that five groups have tendered for construction of a 17.5km section of the S61 Expressway. The section runs from Podborze junction to Sniadowo junction and all bids fall within the investor's budget of around €146 million. The lowest offer reportedly was from a Rubau Polska consortium, at around €112 million, while the highest bid was lodged by Budimex at around €139 million.

Jan Durisin, head of Slovakia’s motorway operator NDS, has said that the R2 expressway, will go ahead despite watchdog fears of poor value for money. Completion of the R2, that includes the Soroska Tunnel, remains 2024, he told Slovakian news agencies. NDS, he said, will start looking for a contractor to start work in 2018 on a stretch of the expressway near the town of Roznava. R2 is a 360km route that will run from Kosice in the east across the country to Trenčín, near the Czech border in the west. It wil

A series of road projects is being awarded in Nepal. The announcements over the winning tenders for 13 projects is being made in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu. Financing worth US$300 million is being provided from Indian sources.