Finance & Funding

America’s federal highway trust fund faces running out of money in 2015: a move that will have a “devastating impact” on states that rely heavily on federal funds for their road maintenance and construction needs, transportation officials warned the US Congress this week. - See more at: http://www.worldhighways.com/sections/general/news/us-federal-highway-trust-faces-running-out-of-cash-by-2015/#sthash.OH7KmQ0C.dpuf

Auction specialist Euro Auctions claims that market interest in secondhand equipment continues to rise. The firm reports strong demand for secondhand machines at its recent sales. At the firm’s three day event in Leeds in late August, almost 4,000 lots went under the hammer, the highest number sold at their Leeds auctions to date, achieving over £26.6 million. A large volume of stock had to be turned away and the cut-off date for stationary equipment was also earlier than previous auctions. In addition the

A loan from Saudi Arabia will help fund construction of a major road link in Kenya. The US$27 million package is being provided on a 30 year loan by the Saudi Monetary Fund. This will be used to help pay for a $130 million project to build the new Mudogashe-Nunow road with work commencing in 2014.

Research from business intelligence specialist Timetric suggests that the market for infrastructure construction is growing fast in the Philippine. Timetric’s data shows that infrastructure accounted for 37.3% of the country’s construction sector and was worth US$9.6 billion in 2012. The market grew at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.12% and is expected to reach a CAGR of 8.19% by 2017, having been boosted by the need to repair flood damage that occurred in 2012. The country’s construction ind

A note of cautious optimism can be seen at the Austrian contractor Strabag, with the release of its half year results. The company saw turnover of € 5.6 billion for the first half of 2013, a drop of 7 % from the same period for the previous year but with some of this fall coming from weather-related issues that delayed the start of construction acitivity. However the company says that the impact of the weather on its performance should be made up by the year end. Strabag is a major contractor and is Central