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Morocco’s Ministry for Infrastructure and Transport is developing a new national road plan. The first stage is to carry out a study into the country’s transport needs. This will be an extension of the 2035 road plan. At present, Morocco has 51,000km of roads, including 41,431km of surfaced roads and 727km of expressways. However there is concern that the country’s road network is not adequate for Morocco’s needs and that government funding will be insufficient to carry out the work required. The Ministry fo

European skiers may be praying for snow but city dwellers and highway users likely want the white stuff at bay for as long as possible. To help drivers be ready for the inevitable snow, the UK’s Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has launched its national winter campaign Wheels in Winter well ahead of 21 December, the official first day of winter. London’s winters can be milder than for many other major northern European cities, such as Paris, Warsaw and Berlin. But the UK capital’s rainy weather with t

A new transport plan is being drawn up in the Philippines in a bid to deal with the country’s frequent traffic delays. The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has commissioned the World Bank to set out a country-wide infrastructure roadmap. This plan is called the 'Philippine Transport Infrastructure Development' by the World Bank is in broadly in line with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)'s 'Dream Plan' for the country. Both outline sustainable development for Manila by 2030

Plans are well in hand for the INTERMAT 2015 construction equipment exhibition, being held in Paris in April. The organisers say that the 2015 edition promises to be a great success, thanks to a high level of creativity and exceptional events to promote the building materials and machinery industry, and the companies that use them. One of the new features of this 2015 edition is World of Concrete Europe (WOC Europe), bringing together the entire concrete industry and its full range of products. Also, the IN

The BICES 2015 construction equipment exhibition will be held in a new venue located close to Beijing airport and with good links to the city both by road and public transport. This move was announced at a press conference was held in Beijing by the show organisers of BICES; China Construction Machinery Association (CCMA), China Construction Machinery Co (CNCMC), and China Council for the Promotion of International Trade - Machinery Sub-Council (CCPIT-MSC). BICES 2015 is scheduled to be held on 22nd-25th Se

Kazakhstan is increasing the budget allotted for road repairs in the west of the country. The country’s government plans to allot some US$110 million (ZT 20 billion) for road repairs in West Kazakhstan. This sum will be used to fund repairs from 2014 until 2016.

Further problems surround the project to construct Algeria’s East-West Highway. Much of the route is complete, however a number of sections have faced delays with disputes having developed between contractors and the Algerian Government, which is overseeing the project. This latest development has seen the Algerian Ministry for Public Works announcing that the Japanese firm Cojaal has lost its contract to construct the remaining 84km of the eastern section of the East-West highway. It is not clear at presen

The World of Asphalt 2015 event has received official approval from the US Government. The exhibition has been selected to participate in the International Buyer Program (IBP) Select Service of the US Department of Commerce. The IBP Select Service is designed to help bring qualified international customers to US trade shows and facilitates connections with export-minded exhibitors. The 2015 World of Asphalt Show & Conference will be held March 17th-19th 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland USA at the Baltimore Conve

The Ugandan Government is working to improve the country’s infrastructure, with new links planned as well as a new project tackling asset management. Fugro is leading a team on a pioneering project to build a pavement and asset management system for the road network of Kampala in Uganda as part of this focus on infrastructure. The company is working with international asset management specialists from TRL and local Ugandan mapping and GIS specialist Aerophoto Systems Engineering on behalf of the client, Kam

The 6th Eurasphalt & Eurobitume Congress, which is being organised by EAPA & Eurobitume in Prague in the Czech Republic on June 1 to 3 2016, has put out a call for papers. Speakers and authors should submit their abstracts online say the Eurasphalt & Eurobitume Congress 2016 organisers and all papers submitted will receive DOI (Digital Object Identifier) indexation. The organisers say that they “recognise the trend towards online availability of publications and it is the intention to index the proceeding

According to the government of Indonesia, US$490.7 billion (IDR 6,000 trillion) will be needed in the next five years for a series of major infrastructure projects across the country including roads, bridges, power plants, ports and airports. The government hopes that investment projects like these will boost its economic growth rate to 7% per annum versus 5% this year. This latest announcement follows on from an Indonesian government report last November, which unveiled plans to invest $35 billion in new

The World Road Association (PIARC) has extended its submission deadline to Wednesday October 15 for papers at the XXVth World Road Congress, due to be held in Seoul, South Korea, from November 2 to 6 2015. Proposed papers will be reviewed by the PIARC Technical Committees and those that are accepted will be published in the congress proceedings. Also, “all authors of accepted papers will present their work and results at interactive poster sessions,” says PIARC. “Some outstanding contributions will be sele

The upcoming International Bridge, Tunnel, and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) 2014 global summit in Prague, Czech Republic, will be focusing on “Sustainable Transport & Mobility for People and Goods” say the organisers with key sessions looking at “strategic issues such as interoperability (EETS/REETS), road safety, environmental protection, traffic in cities, big data, road user charging around the World and future developments, trends, and technologies.”