INTERNATIONAL ANDSPECIALIZED TRANSPORT
■
APRIL 2015
46
SITEREPORT
“Planning that lift alonewas a real
challenge in terms of ensuringhealth and
safety, themethod statement and soon,”
Karakus explained.
Under construction
When
IC
visited theOlympic site in
February, constructionworkonPhase II
of theproject to theNorthof the sitewas
in full swingwithPhase III – the central
portion containing the45,000 seat outdoor
arena andOlympicVillageunderway.
TheOlympicVillagewill comprise some
257,000 squaremetres of accommodation
across 14 tower blocks.
The threemainvenues inPhase II are
the5,000 seat indoor athletics arena, the
aquatics centre,which features both indoor
andoutdoor 50mpools for racing and
diving and the4,000 capacity indoor
tennis arena.A5kmmonorail is being
built to link them all together.
The site includes a lot of open spaces,
whichwill later be landscaped; however at
present there isnotmuch room towork.
“It is such a congested site that it is very
difficult tohandle,”Karakus explained.
Aside from the construction challenges
of theproject, the logistics are also
formidable.Karakus says that therewere
14,000peopleon the city-centre site in
February,whichbyAprilwill have risen
to15,000.
“We evenneed toplanhow toget people
on andoff the site at the start and finish
of shifts, becausewe are in themiddleof a
city andweonlyhave a few accesspoints to
the site. Things like the cafeteria andmeal
times take a lot ofwork -wehave toget
14,000people sittingdown and fed,”
he said.
Equipment logistics
The list of equipment beingusedon this
scheme is formidable.Karakus listedmore
than330majorpieces of equipment inuse
on theday
IC
visited the scheme.
The lifting equipment includes 66
mobile cranesup to250 tonnes capacity, 31
tower cranes and32 loader cranes.
The tower cranes on site come from
several suppliers, includingPotain,
Towerwork andZhengxing.Most
prominent on themajor buildings andkey
lifting jobs are thePotains. Therewere14
split between theOlympicVillage and the
main stadiumwhen
IC
visited.
Progress onPhase III of the scheme
is seeing someof the structuralwork
on theOlympicVillage come to an end.
The followingmonthswill see cranes
transferred fromhereover to the stadium,
to supplement the four thatwereon this
structureduring
IC
’s visit.
ThePotains on site include8 tonne
capacityMC175Bswith60mbooms,
two10 tonne capacityMC205Bmodels
with60mbooms, two10 tonne capacity
MC235Bswith65mbooms and
two14 tonne capacityMR225Awith
55mbooms.
A spokesman forPolimeks said, “The
reasonwhywe choosePotain ingeneral is
that they arehighquality cranes and their
prices are acceptable.
“This is anoptimumprice andquality
combination, andwe arehappyoverallwith
theperformancePotain cranesdeliver.”
There aremore than100on-highway
trucks on theproject, 40 takingmaterial off
site and60moving itwithin the confines
of theproject.Off-highway equipment
included12wheeled excavators, 25 tracked
excavators, 31backhoe loaders and
22 telehandlers.
“Most of themachines are rented
somaintenance isn’t an issue forus but
getting enoughdiesel tokeep them fed is a
challenge,”Karakus said.
Almost every aspect of theproject
involveshugenumbers. The total
excavation and earthmoving is about
9million cubicmetres. Todate, all truck
journeys total 22.5millionkm and so far
therehavebeen81millionman-hours
workedon theproject.
The scheme is on time andKarakus said
Phase II is 75% complete,with the final
deadlineofDecember this year.
“We expect to finish fourmonths ahead
of schedule,”he said.
Karakusputs the success of theproject
down to careful planning and resource
allocation, accompaniedby lots of
monitoring. “The teamon this job is very
experienced andwemonitor things on a
weeklybasis,”he said.
In addition,Karakus says the
constructive attitudeof the client – the
government ofTurkmenistan–had
been essential.
“Gettingpayment on time is critical
because the amount ofmoney ishuge. You
can’t go to abank andget credit for those
sorts of amounts. So thegovernment’s
support and their timelypaymentshave
been essential.”
GurbangulyBerdimuhamedow,
Turkmenpresident, is said tobe taking a
personal interest in the scheme, having
visited the site seven times since the start of
work,Karakus said.
■
The45,000 seat
outdoor stadium
Four Potain tower craneswereatwork
on the stadiumwhen IC visited the site in
February 2015
