News

Bidding is strong for work on a key section of the Moscow to St Petersburg highway. Several offers have been made for the project, which will connect the Businovskaya and MKAD junction to Festivalnaya Street, and a junction of Festivalnaya Street and MKAD. Both Mostotrest and ARKS are tendering for the work. The tender results will be announced on 20th November 2012. The authorities have stated that the contract price should not exceed US$946 million.

The authorities in Russia’s Astrakhan Region intend to boost road investment in 2013. Over US$289 million is being budgeted for road repair and construction during 2013. This represents a three-fold increase over the sum spend on road repair and construction in the Astrakhan Region during 2012. The priority project is for construction of the new Astrakhan-Makhachkala road, which is financed by Russia’s Federal budget.

Preparation work is underway in Vietnamese city Da Nang for the planned Da Nang-Quang Ngai Expressway. The 140km road will link the provinces of Quang Ngai and Quang Nam and site clearance work worth around US$48 million in compensation is being carried out at present. Construction of the expressway itself will commence in mid-2013 and the new road will cut journey times from three hours along the existing route to just two hours.

Slovakia is benefiting from strong European investment in its transport infrastructure. For the 12 month period up until 30th September 2012, the country benefited from the use of EU funds worth €920.5 million. This amount was used for projects within the Operational Programme Transport (OPD) and came from the overall allocated sum of €3.12 billion. Co-financing from the state budget stood at €211.5 million and represented 33.75% of the overall sum of €626.6 million. The finances used from the EU Cohesion F

A series of road improvements are planned for Panama’s capital Colon that are intended to boost connectivity and cut congestion. The US$163.2 million package of works has been approved by Panama's National Economic Council (CENA). Of the sum budgeted, $127 million will be for the construction work while $35 million will be required for property expropriations. The road works form part of a contract the Panama Government is signing with Concesionaria Madden-Colon.

In Russia’s Krasnodar Region the authorities intend to spend US$909.3 million on road construction and repairs during the 2013-2015 period. The main focus of this investment will be rebuilding of the M4 Don Highway. In addition, a series of approach roads into Krasnodar will be rebuilt and new road junctions constructed.

Volvo CE reports a drop in machine sales of 9% in the third quarter as market demand drops. The company says that it is facing a weakening total market, which was down 11% in the year to August. This has also been combined with increased price competition and has put pressure on its third quarter sales and earnings. The company says it has reacted quickly to a slowing global market by slowing the rate of production in its factories and reducing the number of machines held in stock at its dealerships. This

The second annual INTERMAT Middle East exhibition has now established the show as a key event for professionals in construction and infrastructure in the region. INTERMAT Middle East is the region’s biggest dedicated exhibition for construction machinery, equipment and materials. Strong support for the event came from the Ministry of Public Works of UAE (MoPW), the Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA) for Abu Dhabi, major exhibitors and key decision makers including developers, contractors and distributors

The construction equipment market has been hit hard in Europe and further afield, with economic uncertainty slowing orders. But there is light on the horizon. A range of key industry speakers made presentations at the recent Committee for European Construction Equipment (CECE) congress in Berlin, outlining prospects for the next few years in Europe as well as around the world.

The IRF is currently working on a series of programmes intended to help boost road safety and reduce the casualty rate on the world’s road network. On November 1st-2nd the IRF is organising a conference in India focussing on road safety in urban and rural roads. This follows immediately after the IRF’s road safety group of experts meeting on October 31st in Delhi. Starting from the 2nd December, the IRF is also planning a Safer Roads by Design event in Miami in the US. This last, the Road Safety Across Six

In the US State of Virginia plans are now moving forward for construction of the US$460 tolled highway. This 88km route will connect Petersburg and Suffolk and will cost $1.4 billion to construct. A consortium headed by Spanish firm Ferrovial Agroman has qualified to handle the design, build, finance deal for the project. The package of works also includes building junctions for the highway to connect with seven existing roads. The financing of the project has still to be completed but this stage is expect

A series of major road projects will help improve Moscow’s connectivity. Russian contractor Mostotrest is to rebuild a series of road connections in Moscow, following the agreement of a deal with the Moscow Construction Department. The road building work will be on the southern section of the North-West Chord, a junction with the Skolkovo Highways and the Moscow Ring Road. Mostotrest will also construct new infrastructure and the whole package of works is worth some US$1.13 billion. The work will be carried