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A financing deal has been signed for a series of major road projects in Sri Lanka. A second loan facility worth US$107 million has been agreed between the Sri Lankan Government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This loan facility will be used to finance road upgrade projects in Sabaragamuwa Province, North Western Province, Western Province, North Central Province and Central Province. This loan forms part of the $800 million Integrated Road Investment Programme planned by the Sri Lankan Government. The

After several years of steady gains in road safety, France has seen a decline in 2014. Figures show that offences increased by 17% in 2014, with the fatality rate increasing 3.5% to 3,384 deaths in all. Injuries caused by road crashes increased by 2.4% meanwhile. Speeding and drunk driving were cited as the biggest factors in crashes in France. The only classes of road user not to see increases in road fatalities were motorcyclists and truck drivers. It is of note that 21% of the 1,663 car drivers killed in

New Zealand is bucking the trend worldwide on improving road safety with an increase in crashes on its roads. The country saw 5.7 road deaths/100,000 people in 2014 according to the International Road Traffic and Accident Database, an increase of 16.1% from the previous year. This is the largest increase in the 28 countries surveyed, and largely reverses a 17% reduction from the previous year. The death toll on New Zealand’s roads so far in 2015 is 134, compared to 123 and 100 in the comparable periods of 2

Montenegro is ensuring it has sound financing in place for the new Bar-Boljare highway that will link it with Serbia. The country has a €687 million loan in place for the project that was provided by China's Exim Bank. The country’s Ministry of Finance is setting out a strategy that will protect it from risk. The loan was provided (in US$) for a 20 year repayment period, with a grace period of six years. However Montenegro’s Ministry of Finance is taking steps to prevent any future currency fluctuations fro

In Mexico the tender process is being developed for a major new highway project. The US$466.5 million highway project will be built under the PPP model. The 83km route will provide an improved connection between Las Varas, Bucerias and Puerto Vallarta. The country's Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT) is preparing the tender at present. Mexican construction firm Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina (IDEAL) initially put forward a proposal for the project, which looks likely t

Children should have the right of a safe journey to and from school, as part of a wider strategy to build safe, healthy and liveable communities, recommends a new report from UNICEF and the FIA Foundation. The report, ‘Safe to Learn’, was published to mark the 3rd United Nations Global Road Safety Week, which has a theme of child safety. The report was launched at an event at the World Bank in Washington DC by Zoleka Mandela, a global road safety activist, bereaved mother of a road traffic victim, and gran

The World Bank is offering Ethiopia a loan worth US$370 million for the construction of a new expressway. The Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) will use the loan to construct the 57km Batu Ziway-Arsi Negele section of the 203km Modjo-Awassa expressway. The loan will be repaid over 38 years with six years of grace period. The Modjo-Awassa expressway has four sections, with the 52km Arsi-Negele section to be funded by China EXIM Bank. Korea EXIM Bank will finance the 37km Meki-Ziway section and the African Deve

A new campaign is being rolled out across several European nations in a bid to boost safety for cyclists and motorcyclists. The Think Bikes pan-European road safety campaign is intended to generate awareness for the high number of deaths and injuries among cyclists and motorcyclists. With more than 11 European countries developing national campaigns on this topic in 2015, the FIA hopes to raise international awareness for drivers to look out for users of bicycles, mopeds and motorcycles. This follows on fro

IRB Infrastructure Developers has won the Agra-Etawah Bypass project with a winning bid of nearly US$416.5 million, Indian media reported. The project, awarded by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), will have six lanes built onto the Agra-Etawah Bypass in Uttar Pradesh state under NHDP Phase 5 of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Toll model. The 15km Agra-Etawah Bypass runs between the Uttar Pradesh cities of Agra - home to the iconic Taj Mahal mausoleum – and Etawah on the banks of Yamuna

Moscow-based infrastructure group Doraeroproekt Institute will design a bridge over the Samur River under an agreement between Russia and Azerbaijan. The new bridge will carry around 37,000 vehicles a day and link the two villages of Samur in Azerbaijan and the Russian village of Yarag-Kazmalar. The announcement follows the signing by the two governments of a bridge protocol in mid-2013 as part of other infrastructure project agreements. Azerbaijan will finance bridge construction and Russia will c

The Toyo tunnel being planned in Colombia will provide several engineering challenges according to reports. Located in Antioquia, the tunnel lies in an area with tricky topography. The project is expected to cost some US$783 million to build with the tunnel being located at an altitude of around 1,500m.

The tender process is being planned for the Myanmar-Korea Friendship Bridge, which will connect Myanmar’s commercial centre Yangon to Dala Township. Over $137 million in loans have been pledged by the Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund to develop the 1.87km long suspension bridge. The tender process will be international and the work is due for completion by 2020. In all the project is expected to cost in the region of $168 million.

In a key development, Argentina, Israel and Morocco are joining the International Transport Forum (ITF). The decision was made at a summit of international transport ministers held in the German city of Leipzig, who unanimously approved membership of the countries. Of particular note is the appointment of Morocco, the first full ITF member country from Africa. Housed by the OECD in Paris (France), the ITF is an intergovernmental organisation that acts as a think tank for transport policy and organises the