Finance & Funding

An upgrade is planned for the road connecting Uganda with Kenya at the Suam-Bukwo-Kapchorwa border crossing. The majority of the project costs will be paid for by a loan package worth US$94.5 million being provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB). The remaining $11.2 million needed for the work will be paid by the Ugandan Government. The project should take 36 months to carry out and will involve improving the 118km road that runs from Kapchorwa in Uganda to Kitale in Kenya.

Swiss cantons Lucerna, Vaud e Neuchâtel have plans to spend €1.86 billion developing the local road network. The budget and the programme of works have yet to be fully approved. Meanwhile the Swiss Government has plans to spend €11.5 billion on developing the road network across the country by 2030. This will form the basis of Switzerland’s strategic national road improvement programme. Road maintenance will also benefit from a national budget of €6.9 billion for the time period from 2020 to 2023.

Construction work will commence soon on Nepal’s Naubise-Nagdhunga road tunnel project. The final design for the 2.6km link has yet to be approved. Funding for the project is being provided by a loan from the Japanese Government. The project is being built by the contractor Nippon Koei and is expected to cost US$176.1 million.

In Germany North Rhine-Westphalia is planning a major programme of road repairs and maintenance works. Upgrading and widening work will also be carried out. A massive budget of €20 billion has been set for the work, which will be carried out on the key Autobahn and Bundesstrasse (highway and key trunk route) links in the area. In all, 200 projects are being planned for the state.

Plans are being drawn up in Argentina for a new bridge that will connect Parana and Santa Fe. The project will be handled under the PPP model and involves the construction of a bridge and highway connection that is expected to cost US$650 million. The work will be carried out in three phases. South Korean contractor Hyundai has expressed strong interest in the project.

A new bridge is being built between Bangladesh and India. The bridge will span the Feni River and will provide an improved transport link between Ramgarh in Bangladesh and Chittagong in India. Piling work is already being carried out for the bridge supports and the project should be complete by the second quarter of 2020. Funding is being provided by the Indian Government.

Hungarian contractor Duna Aszfalt has won the tender for building a section of the M44 dual carriageway between Bekescsaba and Kondoros. The €133 million deal is for 18km of the M44. The other bidders were Strabag Altalanos Epito, Colas Hungaria with Colas Kozlekedesepito and a consortium including Pannon-Doprastav, Subterra-Raab and Domper. Békéscsaba is near the Romanian border with the M5 interchange at Kecskemét. Meanwhile, under the Rural Development Programme, the government said it will boost

Financing is being sought in Indonesia for a series of major infrastructure projects. In all the work is expected to require US$9.59 billion and is for six highway projects, with one in Kalimantan and five in Java. The project in Kalimantan is for the Bontang-Samarinda Highway. In Java the highway projects are for links from Cileunyi-Tasikmalaya-Cilacap stretching 183km, Bawen-Yogyakarta, Kamal-Balaraja-Teluknaga stretching 48.3km, Semanan-Balaraja stretching 31.7km and Semarang-Demak.