6
NEWS
CONSTRUCTION EUROPE
SEPTEMBER 2013
Slovakia‘s motorway
work faces delays
Tender application problems likely to delay
start of work on five sections of motorways
and expressways
C
onstruction work on five sections of Slovak motorways and expressways which
were planned to begin in 2013 has been jeopardised and is now likely to be
delayed.
Research company PMR reports that there have been no decisions made yet on the
tenders by the National Motorway Company (NDS) in Slovakia, the state-controlled
commissioning body.
Two sections on the D1 and D3 motorways to Zilina and three sections of the R2
expressway to Banovce nad Bebravou and Zvolen are involved. They total 44 km, and
the overall construction cost is put at €1.24 billion, excluding VAT.
The tenders for the construction of these five sections were launched in March 2013,
but the NDS has not yet made a decision in these contests, although this had been
expected at the beginning of this summer.
The delay in the decision-making process is said to have been caused by a number
of complaints against the conditions in the tender filed by applicant construction
firms with the Office for Public Procurement (UVO) in Slovakia.
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ICEF voting open
Five major construction schemes completed in
the last 18 months have been shortlisted for the
inaugural International Construction Project of
the Year award, organised by KHL, publisher of
Construction Europe.
The winner of this prestigious prize will be
announced at the International Construction
Economic Forum (ICEF), which takes place from 20
to 22 November at the Hotel Okura in Amsterdam,
the Netherlands.
The five shortlisted entries are: Cognizant
Technology Park, India (entered by Larsen & Toubro);
JW Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai (Brookfield
Multiplex); Katupali Port, India (Larsen & Toubro); The
Shard, UK (Mace Group); and Vidin-Calafat Bridge,
Bulgaria/Romania (FCC).
These five schemes met the entry criteria of having
a contract value of more than US$100 million (€75
million), and reached completion between January
1, 2012, and June 30 this year.
ICEF is a conference, networking event and awards
dinner that will focus on core themes of trends
and forecasts in the global construction industry,
project finance, successful project management
and delivery, equipment technology and asset
management.
The keynote address at ICEF will be given by
former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar,
while senior figures from throughout the global
construction industry are also scheduled to speak.
The evening of 21 November will see a gala
dinner and the award of prizes in five categories
for outstanding performance in the construction
industry. More details on ICEF, including how to
book tickets, can be found at
. For more
details of the short-listed projects,
including images, go to the awards
section of the website, or scan the
QR code below to go straight to the
voting page.
KHL.COM
This month’s podcast for
Construction Europe
will be available online within a few days of the
magazine’s publication. To listen, go to:
Milestone for UK’s Crossrail
One of the tunnelling
machines in London’s
major Crossrail project
is preparing to start the
drive underneath the
River Thames, while
another has reached
Woolwich, in south east
London.
Crossrail is currently
the largest construction
project in Europe.
The 1,000 tonne
machine Mary, which
started its journey from
Plumstead in May, has
broken through into the
station box at Woolwich,
marking the half-way
point of tunnelling south
of the river. During the
three-month journey,
Mary has excavated
almost 110,000 tonnes of
material and installed 811
concrete rings to line the
inside of the tunnel.
The second machine,
Sophia, which reached
the Woolwich box in May,
is being prepared to start
on the second leg of
the journey underneath
the Thames to North
Woolwich.
It is planned that
passengers in south east
London will benefit from
some of Crossrail’s most
significant time savings.
accross the city. With
Crossrail, the journey
from Abbey Wood and
Woolwich to Bond Street
is expected to be at
least 15 minutes quicker,
and it is claimed that
passengers travelling to
Heathrow Airportwill be
able to save around 40
minutes of their journey.
Sophia and Mary
are constructing the
Thames tunnel, which
will run from Plumstead,
via Woolwich and
underneath the Thames
to North Woolwich.
They are different to
the tunnelling machines
being used elsewhere
on Crossrail. Known as
slurry machines, they
are specially equipped
to deal with the chalk,
flint and wet ground
conditions in southeast
London.
As part of the tunnelling
process, the excavated
soils are pumped out as
liquid slurry to a special
site treatment plant at
Plumstead. The slurry
is separated into sand,
gravel, water and chalk.
The chalk comes out in
cakes or slabs of filtered
chalk particles.
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Sophia in the Woolwich Station box
