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The Wirtgen Group is committed to expanding its presence in “increasingly important” emerging markets, according to joint group president Stefan Wirtgen. Speaking alongside his brother and co-Wirtgen Group president, Jürgen Wirtgen, at a press conference during the recent Wirtgen Mineral Technology Days 2012 event attended by over 1,400 industry professionals from more than 60 countries, Stefan Wirtgen said: “The markets in the last few years have shifted and emerging markets are playing an increasingly imp

China’s Anhui province will be spending US$40.06billion (CNY 250bn) on road construction by the end of 2016. The province has been forecast to have 3,500km of Class 1 road and over 1,500km of highway by the end of that period. The province is also set to have six civil airports by December 2016.

Work is underway in Tunisia on the westbound Highway from capital Tunis towards the Algerian border. This 60km link will run from the town of Oued Zarga to Boussalem and the work is being carried out by Italian contractor Todini and local company Soroubat. The bidding process for the 100km highway from Gabes to Medenine is now being opened, while bidding for the 92km road from Medenine to the Libyan border outpost of Ras Jedir opened in October 2012. Bids for the construction of the 61km of peripheral roads

Moscow authorities are preparing to choose a contractor for the construction of eight viaducts that will join Kutuzovsky prospect and Rublevskoe highway within the city’s borders. The project is estimated at to be worth US$302.94million (RUB 9.60bn). Bids are accepted until 14 December, 2012, with a winner announced four days later.

The total damage caused by road cargo theft in Germany last year hit €4billion (US$5.11bn), according to police. Almost 1,900 trucks were stolen in Germany in 2011, with the damage of road cargo theft EU-wide coming to €9bn (US$11.46bn). Police say that the culprits are often well informed and stolen goods are moved very quickly. White goods, computers and other electronics are the most likely wares to be stolen from trucks.

Proposed simplifications to the heavy goods vehicle tax in France were unveiled by Transport Minister Frédéric Cuvillier during the national road transport federation’s (FNTR) conference. A bill will be tabled before the end of 2012, and the system is scheduled to be in place from July 2013. It will take the form of a flat rate tax, which will include the administrative cost of managing the tax, with the amount set by each region (there will be an interregional rate for interregional transport).

Morocco’s Transport and Infrastructure Ministry has plans in hand to expand the country’s road network in a bid to boost the economy. Safety improvements will also ensure that the road network is safer, with Morocco instituting new road safety policies. Estimates suggest that up to 45,000km of roads and as well as 208 bridges will be required to provide access to the country’s rural areas. Extending the road network would cost up to US$5.8 billion, according to a study carried out for the Transport and Infr

Some US$189.2 million is being budgeted by the authorities for 2013 in the Irkutsk Region of Siberia for road repairs and maintenance, as well as new construction. This represents an increase of 12% from the 2012 budget. Key improvements include replacing gravel on federal highways and also building bypasses around some of the major urban areas in the region.

The Gulf region has bridge and road projects valued at US$121.3 billion in the planning stage or already on going. In Bahrain, there is $2 billion worth of road and bridge projects underway in various phases, and another $8 billion in Oman. In Kuwait, the government will be spending $9 billion for road projects in the coming two years, while road projects valued at $17 billion are said to be in ‘cruise control’ in Qatar as the country prepares for the 2022 football World Cup. Around $26.9 billion has been

A highway project looks set to face extended delays in its construction due to the discovery of contaminated land. A two year highway project planned in the canton Valais will now take considerably longer to complete due to the unexpected discovery of mercury contamination on the site. The contamination is historic and appears to be the result of disposal carried out by a local chemicals firm in the 1930s, when there were few controls over what could be dumped. The company had tipped its chemical waste into

Sandvik has unveiled its groundbreaking DH350 surface drill rig at bauma China 2012. Speaking about the significance of the DH350 during a special launch event at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre-based show, Sandvik Global Construction president Thomas Schulz said, “We have our biggest assembly centre worldwide here in the Shanghai area in Jiading district, and we inaugurated in 2010 our own R&D centre, the product development centre, for China. This is the first product developed in the PDC and i