News

The Malaysia authorities are offering four key road projects for tender: a 12km road linking Tanjung Bungah and Teluk Bahang; the 4.2km Gurney Drive-Lebuhraya Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu bypass; the 6.5km Penang-Butterworth Tunnel and the 4.6km Lebuhraya Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu-Bandar Baru Air Itam bypass. The project is to start in 2015 and has an estimated total value of US$2.55 billion.

Italian asphalt plant manufacturer Bernardi Impianti International and Speedcrafts have signed a licence agreement for the manufacturing of asphalt batching plants in India. The plants will be manufactured on the basis of Bernardi design and technology.

Organisers of the Interoute&Ville 2012 being held in Lyon, France later this year say they are set to welcome 200 exhibitors, 7,000 professional visitors and 700 delegates. Held every two years and acclaimed internationally, the exhibition is dedicated to materials, equipment and technologies for streets, roads, highways and cities, bringing together professionals who work in the fields of infrastructures and land use planning. This year, organisers are creating a ‘smart infrastructure village’ to assist co

Mexico’s newly opened Baluarte Bridge crosses the Baluarte River in the Sierra Madre mountain range in the north of the country. The 1.12km long bridge is 403m high at its central point, making it the highest cable-stayed structure in the world, and a Guinness Book of Records entrant. It is part of a new highway connecting Mazatlan on Mexico’s Pacific Coast with Durango.

African heads of state have endorsed the launch of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), a multi-billion dollar initiative that will run through until 2040. Following their 18th summit, held in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, they approved the implementation of the recommendations in the study on PIDA.

Transport Infrastructure Vietnam 2012 has been organised by IQPC in partnership with the local authorities and will be held in Hanoi from 17-18 April, 2012. Further details can be found at www.transportinfrastructure-vietnam.com. A huge investment by Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport will see over US$5 billion spent on the country’s road transport infrastructure by 2020.

The Egyptian Government is opening the tender process for the Rod el Farag highway in July 2012. The highway project is expected to cost US$1 billion to construct and will be carried out in two stages. One section will run from Alexandria Desert Road to the Cairo Ring Road. Meanwhile the second section will run from the Cairo Ring Road to the eastern side of the Nile-Shoubra area and the Al Ismailia Canal Road.

In China plans are underway for a new expressway connecting Luohu and Futian districts in Shenzhen. The US$1.58 billion project still has to be approved by the authorities in Shenzhen city. Of note is the plan to build the majority of the 20.3km expressway as an underground road. Once it is complete, the new link is expected to reduce congestion in both districts. Meanwhile a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC) has secured the LM2 section contract for the 20.5km Fanshi-Day

Financing is being provided by Australian Government for the Pacific Highway upgrade project. In all some US$3.6 billion (A$3.56 billion) of Federal Government funds will go towards the works on the condition that the New South Wales State Government provides an equal amount. In all $7.2 billion will be needed to upgrade the Pacific Highway.

A total of US$6.27billion is to be spent on 82 highway schemes in Pakistan. In addition to the schemes, set to be implemented by the National Highway Authority (NHA), a further 14 projects worth $1.03billion are also in the pipeline. Over the next five to seven years, the NHA’s National Trade Corridor (NTC) programme plans to lower transport cost, road fatalities and travelling time.