Road Structures

Three firms are to carry out construction work on a 98.5km road upgrade project in Indonesia. The project is expected to cost around US$606 million and involves upgrading the north-south route connecting Parapat, Pematang Siantar and Tebing Tinggi in North Sumatra. The project will be headed by Hutama Karya, with Waskita Karya and Jasa Marga also being involved in the road construction work. The upgraded route will be tolled and the Indonesian Government has been keen to prioritise the upgrade of this road

Work remains at a halt on the 70km dual carriageway upgrade connecting Yapacani with Montero in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department. A disagreement between the Mexican construction company that was building the link, Tradeco, and Bolivia’s road administration department, ABC, resulted in the contract being cancelled. The route, Highway 4, runs from Yapacani through Santa Fe, San Carlo and Portachuelo to Montero and the project was intended to improve the road and boost its capacity by increasing the number of l

A new highway widening and upgrade project is planned for the Indian state of Rajasthan. The project is worth some US$123.2 million and is for the upgrading of the NH-11A route. This will be widened to four lanes and with shoulders also, along an 83km stretch. The highway passes through the historic city of Jaipur, as well as Tonk and Dausa. The project also includes constructing three bypass sections, one bridge passing over a railway, three large bridges and 12 small bridges. The work will take 30 months

Plans are in hand for a major upgrade to a key route in Bangladesh. The US$1.52 billion project will see the 190km Elenga-Hatikumrul-Rangpur route being widened to four lanes, with two lanes in either direction. The route includes a crossing over the Brahmaputra River. Some of the funding will be provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), close to Elenga.

India is embarking upon a series of large road upgrade projects. In all 16 roads will be improved in 11 states, with a total length of 622km. The work will cost US$1.12 billion in all to carry out and the timeline for the tendering process has yet to be announced. The projects will be carried out in the states of Arunachal Pradesh Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Odisha, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. Meanwhile Ashoka Concessions has been awarded the $311 million

A major urban highway project in Mexico City is expected to help unclog the city’s notoriously congested streets. The new highway section will run from Las Razas through Indo Verdes and link with the Santa Clara area. It will provide a connection so far missing in the city, which is known for its regular traffic jams at peak periods.

Algeria is planning to restart construction of the final section of the country’s East- West Highway project as well as a tunnel at Djebel El Ouahch. Some 84km of the East-West highway located in Algeria’s El Tarf region remains to be built following the withdrawal of a Japanese-led consortium from the project. The project to build the 1.9km twin tube tunnel at Djebel El Ouahch and close to Constantine faced major geological challenges.