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Serbia and China have signed a memorandum of understanding for construction of two sections of Serbia’s Corridor 11. The MoU was inked in during Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic’s visit to the Chinese capital Beijing last week. Serbia’s Tanjug news agency reported that Vucic said the deal was worth around €209 million and included construction of the 18km Surcin-Obrenovac bridge. Corridor 11 runs from the Serbian capital Belgrade southwest to the border with Montenegro, another member state of

The ambitious Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link, connecting Denmark and Germany, will open in 2025 at the earliest, according to the Danish finance ministry. Femern A/S, the Danish government-owned company managing the project, confirmed the note from the government. It also said the ministry still has financial concerns over the deal to build an immersed tunnel connecting the towns of Rødby in Denmark’s southern Zealand with Puttgarden in northern Germany. Of particular is the time for a construction company t

Vietnam is showing a major improvement in road safety, with a reduction in crashes. According to the National Committee on Traffic Safety of Vietnam, the number of crashes reported in the country during the last 12 months dropped by 51% compared to the data for 2011. The number of injury cases caused by road crashes decreased by 60%, while that of deaths declined by 24%. The committee attributed the decrease in crashes to factors including tougher law enforcement and the introduction of new traffic regulati

A novel move in India by the government will see waste materials being used in road construction. The new legislation requires plastic waste to be used in asphalt by road construction firms. The aim of this new legislation is to overcome the problem of plastic waste disposal in India’s major urban areas. Road construction firms will be required to incorporate waste plastic within hot mix when building bitumen roads within 50km of any city with a population of 500,000 or more. The contractor is now required

Loans from Japan to Cambodia will help finance work on a key highway upgrade. The loan package totals US$150 million and will be used for the project to upgrade Cambodia’s National Road No 5. This major route runs from Poipet city, through Banteay Meanchey to Phnom Penh. The loan was announced by HE Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister in a meeting with Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, the prime minister of Cambodia. The meeting was held at the recent 27th ASEAN Summit in Malaysia.

Proposals are expected for widening work to two major highways in Paraguay. In all seven consortia look likely to submit their proposals for the PPP widening project for Route 2 and Route 7. The Directorate of Strategic Projects (DIPE) of Paraguay's Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) has reported that seven of the eleven pre-qualified firms have shown string interest in the work. The project is due for completion after 2019 and will cost close to $400 million. Bidding for the project will no

A heart-stopping moment when a motorcyclist stopped at a busy intersection see what she thought was a leaf blowing around on the road, but was actually a tiny kitten. Click here to watch as her helmet cam records the event, including first sight of the little thing on the asphalt where the animal was only a meter or so away from traffic rushing through the intersection. A pickup just brushes by the furry ball only seconds before the motorcyclist was able to put the bike on its side stand, warn traffic awa

Drink drive enforcement still has issues in Europe, according to Pan-European police body TISPOL. It is estimated that 230 (14%) of the 1,713 road deaths in the UK are due to drinking and driving. Meanwhile drink driving is the cause of around 5,000 road deaths in Europe. For England, Wales and Northern Ireland the limit for driving is still 80mg (0.8) of alcohol/100ml of blood. Scotland reduced its limit to 50mg (0.5) of alcohol/100ml of blood in December 2014, bringing it into line with most other Europea

Key highway projects are progressing in Australia. In the state of Victoria, the authorities are planning a road widening project for the Monash Freeway that will cost an estimated US$289.54 million (A$400 million). The project calls for the route to be widened to five lanes in either direction for the stretch between the EastLink and the South Gippsland Highway.

Major plans are in hand in Thailand for transport infrastructure development. The country’s Ministry of Transport is revising its construction plans for a series of key transport infrastructure projects at present. Several selected plans will then be presented to the cabinet in mid-December 2015. A total of five public-private partnership (PPP) ventures are among projects that will be re-submitted to the cabinet for approval. Two of these PPP projects are highways that will cost an estimated US$3.9 billion.

Vietnam is planning a series of major works to upgrade transport in the Central Highlands area. The Vietnamese Government has released plans to spend some US$4.95 billion improving transport infrastructure in the Central Highlands. A significant portion will be used for 12 projects to build and upgrade several sections of national highways. Government funding will pay for a portion of this work, with private sources providing the remaining financing, although further details have not yet been released.