Highways development, which remained largely comatose during UPA-I, has got an adrenalin injection with the induction of Kamal Nath as the minister in-charge. But his pitch to create 20 km of highways, despite his good intentions, looks hard to achieve, primarily because of capacity constraints in the road construction industry—an issue that has got much less attention than it deserves. Join discussion...

Ferrovial-owned toll road operator Cintra said its shareholders approved its merger with the parent company. Earlier last week, Ferrovial's shareholders approved the operation and, once all the legal requirements are fulfilled, the transaction is expected to be completed towards the beginning of December. Join discussion...

If India is to move in its high growth trajectory over the next 8 years, the Indian construction industry is likely to witness a huge shortage of skills. The supply of skilled human resources required by the construction industry will fall short by 55 to 64 percent. To meet this demand, the number of civil engineering graduates and diploma holders would have to go up by at least a factor of 3, says a new World Bank study. Join discussion...

The new promoter of Maytas Infra Ltd, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) plans to partner foreign firms to improve the financial position of the troubled company, a top executive said. IL&FS would need at least two quarters to stabilize operations at Maytas and revive the firm before fresh capital infusion can be considered, chairman Ravi Parthasarathy told reporters on Tuesday. Join discussion...

According to Kamal Nath, Road, Transport and Highways minister, there are two dominant issues that stand in the way of quickening highway construction — land acquisition being one and the need for capacity building at the National Highway Authority of India, which is the nodal authority for highway construction being the other. This article is going to deal with the land acquisition. Join discussion...

French construction and concessions company Vinci SA (DG.FR) has bought most of the operations of private U.K. property and construction company Haymills in a so-called pre-pack deal after the British company went to the brink of insolvency, the administrator PriceWaterhouseCoopers said Thursday. Haymills will become part of Vinci Construction UK Ltd. and the deal will save about 430 jobs, PWC said. Join discussion...

Swedish contractor Skanska has seen turnover slip slightly from £2.6bn to £2.5bn (31.5bn to 30.8bn Swedish Kroner) while profits have slumped from £73M to £36M (878M-433M Kroner) in the first three months of 2009 compared to the same period last year. The contractor’s forward order book has also slumped by almost a third, from £2.8bn to £2bn (34.3bn to 24.1bn Kroner). Join discussion...

At least two contractors are looking to join the PFI prisons sector to bid for a share of the five new 1,500-capacity prisons mooted by the government last week. By Mark Lewis The Government last week confirmed the five jails – which justice secretary Jack Straw said would replace the three proposed 2,500-place Titan prisons – would be procured using private finance. Join discussion...

Forget that there´s a recession. It´s going to be another year of barricades on Alberta´s roads and bridges. Part of the reason is the provincial government´s commitment to catch up on works that suffered during the Ralph Klein years. And other projects are getting a boost because of federal efforts to stimulate the national economy through infrastructure spending. Here are the top 10 infrastructure projects in Alberta this year. Join discussion...

The construction of five 1,500-place jails will not be procured through the Ministry of Justice’s £2.3bn prisons framework. The prisons will instead be tendered individually using the PFI despite recent difficulties funding these projects. The move has added to industry fears that the public sector is increasingly willing to procure large projects “out of framework” to take advantage of the buyer’s market for construction services. Join discussion...