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The Kenyan government will pay nearly US$557 million (€446 million) annually to contractors for building 10,000km of roads over eight years. A special annuity fund was also set up to fund road construction that will be under a new private finance initiative programme. The work, to be done in phases, will start by the end of this year. The first phase is for 3,000km, of which 1,940km will be managed by Kenya Rural Roads Authority and 365km by Kenya Urban Roads Authority. Kenya Highways Authority wil

The firms Pöyry and Ramboll are to handle the design work for a project to upgrade a stretch of Highway No 6 in Finland. This package of works was awarded by the Finnish Transport Agency to Pöyry and Ramboll. The stretch of highway being upgraded lies between Taavetti and Lappeenranta. The work is for a 28km section of road including a portion of Highway No 6 and 12km of new roads. Also included will be three new interchanges, an upgrade to an existing interchange and environmental protection including the

The UK’s Highways Agency is teaming up with three universities as well as industry partners to research more efficient construction and maintenance practices for highways. The project will benefit a budget of some €191,000 £150,000) of funding initially. The research project will be handled by the Highways Agency, the University of Salford, Cardiff University, Nottingham Trent University, contractor Costain and the Lean Construction Institute UK. The aim of this project is to improve project delivery for cl

The UK Government looks set to announce a major programme of road widening and improvement work. In all some €19.1 billion (£15 billion) is planned to be invested in around 100 large road projects. One of the key projects planned is for a new tunnel on the A303, close to the famous Stonehenge site. The tunnel will measure up to 2.9km long and will carry four lanes of traffic past the Stonehenge site. This tunnel has been proposed and cancelled on a number of previous occasions and has long been recognised a

Austria to start A5 motorway construction in March Construction companies will be able to bid for the first section of Austria’s A5 motorway project in the beginning of December. Austrian motorway operator Asfinag said a tender will be issued for the $408.55 million project, but gave no specific date for publication. The announcement follows the Austria’s Administrative Court’s recent rejection of a case against the Schrick to Poysbrunn section of the motorway. Asfinag will call for tender bid

Balfour wins place on major UK Highways Agency road framework contract Balfour Beatty’s UK construction business has been appointed by the UK’s Highways Agency to a new collaborative framework contract for projects totalling more than US$3.95 billion (£2.5 billion). Under the framework arrangement, Balfour is one of five contractors that the agency can call upon to deliver individual projects worth between $160 million and $713 million (£100 million and £450 million) on Lot 3B of the Collaborative Del

IronPlanet, a US-based on online marketplace for buying and selling used heavy equipment, has acquired Kruse Energy and Equipment Auctioneers for an undisclosed sum. Kruse is based in Odessa, Texas, and Oklahoma City and focuses on oilfield equipment. It conducts auctions in the United States and Canada. Kruse has conducted more than 90% of the energy auctions in the United States in the past 25 years. Kruse will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of IronPlanet, maintaining its brand and employees. Co-

JCB has launched a range of midi excavators just as the market for such compact equipment looks set to grow 16% within four years. The first excavators available in the new line-up are the 8.5 tonne 86C-1 conventional tail-swing and the 85Z-1 zero-tail-swing models. JCB claimed that a major advantage of the new models is the Kohler diesel engine, which requires no DPF. It reduces cost of ownership and offers ease of maintenance. JCB’s chief innovation and growth officer Tim Burnhope said the compact exca

Angloa will build a 26km ring road to connect the cities of Quilemba and Eywa in the southwestern province of Huila. The 9m wide road will cost around US$43.24 million and be completed in 18 months, Angola’s national news agency ANGOP reported. The governor of Huila, João Marcelino Tyipinge, announced the project in Lubango, capital city of the province. Anglo recently announced that the final stretch of the road from the national capital Luanda on the southern coast to the strategic city of Soyo in the

The government of Tenerife said it is looking for investors to come up with around $32 million (€25.7m) to construct and run the proposed Circuit de Tenerife racing track. The tender, to manage the 4.07km track for 40 years but which could be extended to 46, was opened in September and will close on February 3. Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, part of Spain but an autonomous region lying off the northwest African coast. The island, with around 2,030km2 has arou

Intercomp has launched an improved version of its CS750 crane scale for medium industrial applications. Capacities range from 50kg to 500kg and include many NTEP certified models. The CS750 can now be ordered with Intercomp’s RFX Wireless Weighing Technology. Battery life has improved from 500 hours of continuous use to 800 hours -- 5,000 hours in standby mode. The scale also now needs only four D-cell batteries. If direct power is required, the optional direct power chord has been upgraded from a