News

Loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the EU will fiancé highway work in Georgia. The funds will be used to pay for the construction of the high-speed motor road running from West – East across Georgia. The EIB will give a long-term preferential credit worth €170 million, while the EU will provide a €20 million grant. As part of the project, a four lane highway measuring 52km will be built from Samtrediya – Grigoleti, while the 16km section Grigoleti - Kobuleti stretch will be repaired.

Efkon is playing an important role in the construction of the €660 million Limerick Tunnel project in Ireland. The project forms part of the country’s Transport 21 Plan, a huge road construction programme while the tunnel is the largest civil engineering work for the Dublin area since 1920.

ustria’s Government is cutting its road construction budget for 2010 in a bid to trim costs. This will have a major effect on the highway projects contractor Asfinag is involved in at present. The contractor may have to delay construction of the A5 and A3 projects or make them narrower.

The Tamil Nadu state government in southern India aims to build a 162km-road connecting Chennai suburb Ennore and the town of Mamallapuram. State chief minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa said a detailed report on the US$266.62million peripheral road project will be carried out soon. Meanwhile, the state government said it intends to upgrade all 78.6kms of existing roads, while another 83.2km of roads will also be laid soon.

Chile's Public Works minister Laurence Golborne has announced plans to invest US$ 500million to improve roads in the eastern part of Santiago. The first of eight separate projects to ease traffic in that part of the city will begin in October 2012. The works will include a tunnel under Mapoco River connecting Costanera Norte and the Central motorway, two new bridges over Manquehue and Kennedy Avenue and works on La Concepcion exit. The Perez Zujovic roundabout will be eliminated through works about to start

Cofiroute USA, which automated toll roads in the United States with the 91 Express Lanes in Orange County, California, has launched a new consulting division to work with public agencies, contractors and others in developing plans for new toll roads or converting existing high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes.

Official approval is now being given for changes to the agreement between the Bulgarian authorities and the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the second Danube bridge project. So far the EIB is providing €50 million, with €5 million having already been used. The Bulgarian authorities are agreeing to accept a shorter loan period of 14.5 years rather than the 17-year term originally agreed with the EIB.

JCB has won one of the biggest single tenders in its history with an order for more than 1,000 machines worth over US$96.4million from the Brazilian Government. The UK-headquartered company beat off competition from other major global manufacturers to secure the deal for the fleet of backhoe loaders, which will be used to improve the road infrastructure in the country. The first 114 of the 1,016 backhoes have now been delivered and the keys to one of the first machines handed over by Brazilian President Dil

The Government of Federal Bosnia & Herzegovina plans to invest e5.5 billion in building roads, highways and new energy projects. To achieve this programme a new consortium will be set-up to secure part of the necessary capital, while part will be financed by strategic partners. The authorities are also working on plans for construction of the Corridor 5c highway.

A substantial budgetary shortfall has been identified for repairs to roads in the Walloon Region of Belgium that €1 billion is needed to carry out necessary repairs to roads in the region. However the previous local administration had budgeted €600 million for the work.

Questions are being asked over the construction of a new section of the A1 autobahn in Germany. The highway stretch is being scrutinised due to surface failures and lies close to the city of Bremen but has been open for less than three months.

New data from The Co-operative Insurance in the UK says that new data shows that the introduction of telematics technology is leading to better driving behaviour from Britain's young road users. Intelligence gathered from the company’s 'smartbox' scheme shows that 35 per cent are consistently showing 'excellent' driving while less than five per cent demonstrate 'poor' driving habits.