News

The authorities in Oman are working on plans for a 40km bridge link. This bridge would connect to Masirah Island and would cross over the sea. The authorities hope to open the tender process some time during 2011. The project is expected to cost in the region of US$1.5 billion and faces many technical challenges.

India's Punjab State is amongst the country's leading areas with regard to the development of new road and highway connections. The next two years will see US$1.43 billion of road projects being completed in the state. Seven key projects will link of the state's major cities with four or six-lane highways.

India's Government is keen to ramp up construction of its highway network so as to meet up its own strict deadlines for expansion. The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) calls for tough targets to be met on the distances being achieved/month.

According to the latest figures from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), exports of US construction machinery rose 15% in the January-June period compared to 2009. Exports of equipment increased in the second quarter of 2010, reaching a total value of US$7.4 billion. The AEM off-road equipment manufacturing trade group consolidates US Commerce Department data with other sources into global trend reports for members.

Key rural road links in Romania are to benefit from repairs to address flooding damage. Heavy flooding in 2010 caused extensive damage to many of Romania’s rural roads. The EU is providing €155 million to tackle the repairs, which will be managed by the Payments Agency for Rural Development and Fishing (APDRP). The agency will offer non-refundable grants for 144 projects intended to repair and upgrade roads and bridges infrastructure.

Work will commence shortly on the Demir Kapija-Smokvica section of Macedonia’s Corridor 10 highway. The work is being funded by financing worth €100 million from the European Investment bank (EIB) in addition to €353 million that the Macedonian Government is providing from its other sources. The highway will provide and important link between Macedonia and its neighbours when the work is complete.

The Philippino Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will provide US$46 million, which will be used for preventive maintenance of roads as well as installing road safety devices. The budget will be used by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for duties including the construction, installation and application of road safety devices for national roads as well as preventive maintenance to 474km of national roads.

Spanish IT company Indra has been awarded the US$ 21.53million contract to install its ITS smart traffic control and toll payment systems at three motorways in Mexico run by the local motorway operator Ideal. Indra will fit its equipment on the Tepic - Guadalajara motorway and on the ring roads to both cities. The toll payment system, which includes remote payment facilities, will be installed at 17 toll points including 149 lanes.

Work on the eastern section of the Hunter Expressway project in New South Wales in Australia will be carried out by Theiss. The firm won the deal for preliminary design and development of the US$736 million (A$825 million) project, which is for a 13.3km section of the link. Theiss is working on the project with Hyder Consulting and Parsons Brinkerhoff. Once the Hunter Expressway is complete in late 2013, it will cut travel times from the Hunter to Newcastle by 28 minutes.

Spain’s Indra has announced it is leading a consortium of nine companies on the Ciudad 2020 project to address innovation in transportation, the Internet of the future, energy efficiency, environmental sustainability and the relationship between citizens and their city. The project is one of the first industrial research projects within the Innpronta Programme of Spain’s Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness' Centre for Technological Industrial Development (CDTI). Ciudad 2020, which has a US$20.5 million

UK-based engineering firm Scott Wilson has been acquired by the URS Corporation. The size of the deal has not been released at this stage. Scott Wilson is a major engineering firm with an international reputation for its work. The company has carried out a number of key infrastructure engineering projects around the world. With the completion of the Scott Wilson transaction, URS also will add significant international projects outside of the UK, including the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development in

The Highway Code in Morocco is to be amended after failing to lower the number of traffic accidents. The country’s transport federation has proposed a series of recommendations. These include modifying an article so the responsibility of pedestrians in traffic accidents is taken into account, and handing them fines if the law is not respected. Transport operators also want reduced fines and prison sentences for those at fault in an accident.

Talboom group of Belgium is to build an access road to the Jon d'Ebra Bay luxury complex in Cape Verde, in July 2012. The complex will include a US$63.31million hotel and 200 residences in the second phase, which will follow the building of 30 luxury residences in December 2012.

Turkey is continuing its development of new highway links, with plans for a new highway connecting the cities of Rize and Mardin. When complete in 2023, the new highway will pass through 15 cities in all and reduce the travel time between Rize and Mardin to 5-6 hours compared with 12 at present. Turkey is investing heavily in transport as part of its development programme.Turkey is continuing its development of new highway links, with plans for a new highway connecting the cities of Rize and Mardin. When co