News

Two border crossing bridges are being planned to link Germany with other European nations, Denmark and Luxembourg. The Danish engineering consultancy company Cowi has the contract to design a 19km bridge across the Fehmarn Belt between Denmark and Germany. Planning is expected to take three years and the project will entail major engineering challenges.

The innovative QBREAK electric car is to benefit from a sophisticated methanol fuel cell range extender. Development work is being carried out on the project by a consortium of Danish companies. The plan is to develop a novel, range-extended electric vehicle that uses biomethanol as a fuel source. TheModularEnergyCarrier concept (MECc) project has just been granted funding from the Danish government. The reworked electric car is expected to deliver high market potential due to a competitive price and specif

A total of US$2.42 billion is being invested in five high-speed road projects in China's Henan Province. The highways have a total length of 205km and construction work is already underway. Some $1.2 billion will be spent on the 108km road link between Dengfeng City and Weishi Expressway with a length of around 108km, while $377 million will be invested in a 37km road project connecting Wuxi Expressway and Yuntai Mountain. A further $242 million will be spent on a 22km road from Jiao Tong Expressway-Wen Cou

Work on several new highways being built in Slovakia as public-private partnerships (PPPs) will be delayed by six to 12 months. This means that the first sections of the Martin-Presov link will not open before 2011. The last section is expected to be completed in either late 2012 or early 2013.

Plans are in hand to build an 87km long highway in Italy, from Cassano Magnago, in the Province of Varese, through Lombardy and linking with Milan, Como, Lecco, Bergamo and Monza. Work on the highway should begin at the end of this year and is planned to be ready for use in time for Expo 2015. The new link is expected to cost €4.5 billion to build and will be constructed by the Italian highway operator Pedemontana Lombarda.

France and Belgium have now agreed on the bilateral exchange of information relating to motoring offences. The two countries now have reciprocal access to car registration files, enabling the authorities to punish offences committed in either country. Belgian drivers caught by speed cameras in France and French drivers caught speeding or running red lights in Belgium will be now face appropriate penalties. Since speed cameras were deployed in France, around one quarter of offences concern vehicles registere

A tender worth US$637.68million (ILS 2.50bn) was recently published by Israel National Roads Company (Ma'atz) for the construction of two bridges in the historic neighbourhood of Motza, near Jerusalem. The tender says the two 800-metre bridges will have three traffic lanes each. According to Ma'atz, construction work for the project is scheduled to begin in 2013. Once completed, the bridges will be connected directly with the Harel Tunnel.

Croatian consortium Konstruktor is starting discussions over the construction of the Bar-Boljari motorway in Montenegro with the country's government. Konstruktor won the tender with a bid of €2.77 billion for the project, which involves building 170km of highway. The Montenegrin government is securing funding of €1.74 billion, while the reminder will be secured by Konstrukotr. Work is expected to start in October 2009.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a loan worth US$95million to Kazakhstan for the reconstruction of the Western Europe - Western China highway. The 20-year loan will be given with a four-year grace period at interest rate of LIBOR+0.4% for each interest-paying period. The overall cost of the Western Europe-Western China highway project is US$ 112million.

A number of major contractors building highways in Spain are demanding compensation to the value of €1 billion from the Ministry for Public Works for having delayed the approval of these projects for an average of 12 months.

Roads in and around Portugal's capital Lisbon require extensive investment to build new links and upgrade existing sections. The projects include widening the IC19 highway, building the CRIL ring road and construction the new Norte-Sul section and these will require investments of €453 million. The road concession for the IC16 and IC30 highways will cost €256 million and while the last stretch of CRIL linking Pina Manique and Pontinha is attracting an investment of €112 million.

AVERY Weigh-Tronix, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of weighing equipment and solutions, has completed the takeover of UK-based weighing specialists Central Weighing. Peggi Trimble, general manager, industrial division for Avery-Weigh-Tronix (AWT), said the acquisition would give AWT the opportunity to expand its “global reach” and “bring added-value, innovative products to the market by leveraging existing distribution networks”.

German engine manufacturer Deutz has replaced its existing funding arrangements with a new syndicated loan. The working capital facility totalling €160million is being provided by a syndicate of German banks. The credit line is unsecured and runs until June 2017. In addition, Deutz has received a low-interest loan amounting to €90 million from the European Investment Bank. This loan, which is also unsecured, is repayable over a period of eight years with a grace period of two years. Deutz has hedged the in

A change in financing arrangements has been announced by the local authorities in Russian city St Petersburg for the Orlovski Tunnel project. This move is being made due to changes in terms and costs for the project, which is for the construction of a new road tunnel under the city that is intended to alleviate congestion.