Friday round-up: Infrastructure boost for contractors | RFP for collapsed Baltimore Bridge | Gordie Howe update

The bridge deck of the Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting the US and Canada nears completion. Photo: WDBA

With housing markets in Europe and Asia beset by weak demand and elevated interest rates, it’s no wonder that many of the world’s biggest construction companies are looking to government backed infrastructure projects to swell their backlogs.

China’s biggest construction company China State Construction (CSCEC) reported this week that newly signed contracts for Q1 increased 17.7% compared with the same period a year earlier to CNY1,373.6bn (US$189.9bn). The lion’s share was boosted by a 44.7% increase in infrastructure contracts which totalled CNY407.5bn (US$6.2bn).

Austria-based Strabag issued a stark warning that it sees no sign of reversal in the faltering residential construction market but was working on new projects including the construction of a shipping lock in Kriegenbrunn in Germany, the expansion of a rapid transit line in Toronto, Canada and the construction of a bridge over the river Oder in Poland.

In the US, bridge construction was taking centre stage this week as the Maryland Transport Authority published a Request for Proposals for design teams interested in rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge which dramatically collapsed in March after it was struck by a container ship. Meanwhile, 400 miles away, another major bridge, the Gordie Howe International Bridge, between the US and Canada is about to reach an important milestone.