Thailand's Ministry of Transport is considering a plan to develop a THB30 billion ($898 million) motorway project to open a new transportation channel between central Thailand and the Northeastern region. The 196-kilometer road project, from Bang Pa In to the Northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, will be implemented under a public-private partnership scheme, Transport Minister Sophon Zaram told reporters. Join discussion...

The Transurban Group has chosen Leighton Contractors as preferred contractor for the $550m upgrade of the Hills M2 motorway in North West Sydney. Under the agreement, Leighton will deliver environmental planning and design and construction. Subject to environmental approvals, the upgrade incorporates the widening of existing sections of the roadway from two to three lanes, including the Norfolk Rd twin tunnels, new access ramps, and upgrades of operational management and control systems. Join discussion...

Although he wouldn't specify the name of the bidder, it is thought to be a consortium made up of the following companies: Hochtief PPP Solutions GmbH, Alpine Bau GmbH, FCC Construcción S.A. and Western Carpathians Motorway Investors Company GmbH. According to Vážny, there are indications that a second potential applicant didn't manage to submit its bid within the deadline on May 11. Join discussion...

A consortium formed of Vinci Concession, Aktor Concession, Vinci Construction Grand Projets and Aktor is the winner of a tender for the construction of a section of a major motorway linking Bucharest with the central and western parts of the country. The contract, valued at 1.5 bln euro, eyes the section between Comarnic, about 80 km north of Bucharest, and Brasov, central Romania. It is a first 30-year concession contract for construction works in Romania. Join discussion...

The £147m Carlisle Northern Development Route faces more delays as contractor Balfour Beatty struggles to find private funding for the private finance initiative scheme. Join discussion...

The government may have to cough up £400m of the £1.25bn debt needed to get the M25 motorway widening project up and running, Richard Threlfall, head of transport in corporate finance for KPMG, has warned Join discussion...

A major French toll motorway Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhone (APRR) is suffering declines in traffic somewhat similar in scale to US tollroads. According to a report to the Australian Stock Exchange APRR's vehicle-km traveled declined to 4.54b in the December quarter of 2008 vs 4.73b in Dec Q 2007, a decline of 4.1%. Heavy goods (truck) traffic, 18% of the total, was down 10.5% Dec Q08 on previous corresponding period (pcp) and light vehicle traffic (cars) was only down 2.6%. Join discussion...

The Transport Ministry has prepared an alternative plan for highway construction in Slovakia, financed directly from state coffers, in case of a failure of three public-private partnership (PPP) projects which are currently being tendered to build stretches of the D1 highway and R1 dual carriageway. Join discussion...

The ministry said its committee assessing the bids had picked Vinci's group over a consortium of Spain's Obrascon Huarte Lain with Czech firms OHL ZS and ZS BRNO. Join discussion...

VINCI Concessions has also been prequalified and has submitted bids for two other PPP projects in Slovakia for the Slovak Ministry of Transports, Posts and Telecommunications, namely the D1 motorway (74 km between Bratislava and Kosice) and the D1_3 Motorway (29 km between Hricovské Podhradie and Dubna Skala). Join discussion...