LNS has acquired a contract amounting to approximately 2.1 billion kroner for a sewage tunnel in Hong Kong
This is a Joint Venture between Leighton Asia (Leighton) and LNS. The principal delegating authority for this contract is the Hong Kong Drainage Service Department.
Beate Bø Nilsen (03.08.09)
This contract includes a sewage exchange tunnel from Aberdeen to Sai Ying Pun on Hong Kong Island. The project is part of the Hong Kong Government’s Harbour Area Treatment Scheme (HATS), a world-class sewage treatment project. When the project is finished the harbour basin in Hong Kong will be much cleaner and healthier. The contract includes project planning and driving of 7.5 km tunnel. Furthermore, 5 shafts with lengths from 70 to 120 meters will be constructed. Inside the tunnel, 2 oval pipes with diameters from 1.38 m to 1.65 m shall be cast. About 140 000 m3 of concrete will be used all together. The tunnel is partly below the sea and runs partly below buildings in Hong Kong.
The part of the HATS project that was awarded to the Leighton-LNS Joint Venture is marked on the map in red.
The project will start in August 2009, and should be finished in October 2013.
The head of construction, David Westwood at Leighton, says: "We are very happy with being awarded the contract, and also that we will be working with LNS on this project. We contacted LNS because we knew they were among the world’s best companies in this type of operation. Leighton and LNS complement each other in a very positive way. We believe greatly in this collaboration and hope that we can work together on more projects in the future".
The greatest challenge to this project is driving the tunnel below the large urban city. Very strict requirements have been set for sealing and water tightness of the tunnel. Project Director Frode Nilsen says: "The client DSD had bad experiences with similar projects in the past, especially where water seepage is concerned. That is why they chose to look at how such projects have been carried out in other countries, like Norway. DSD chose to avoid a process like full-face boring that was used in the first construction phase and selected a solution where conventional tunnel driving is used along with pre-injection. LNS received an enquiry directly from the Hong Kong-based contractor Leighton about the collaboration, and we started a joint venture for this contract. Our bid was chosen because we presented the best solutions. We got the impression that the client was very happy with having a Norwegian contractor involved in the project. This contract also gives us a unique opportunity to involve Norwegian suppliers. We hope that this can be a display window for Norwegian tunnel technology".
This is LNS’ first large assignment outside of Scandinavia. This assignment arose after long-term strategy planning to acquire larger tunnel projects in foreign countries. There will be many large tunnel projects in Hong Kong in the near future, and LNS has ambitions to participate in more projects of this nature in the future.
From left: Vice-Director Wing-yu Shiu DSD, Director KK Lau DSD, Managing Director Ian Edwards Leighton Asia Hong Kong, Project Director Frode Nilsen LNS, Project Director Jonny Nilsson JV Leighton - LNS, Project Manager Per-Anton Brandtzæg LNS.