Prior information notice of start of award procedures on 27.05.2010 for general safety upgrade and restoration of six road tunnels to RABT 2006 standard, value EUR26.5 million, commencing winter 2010 with Herkulestrasse, value EUR7.54 million. For further information contact Stadt Koeln, tel +49 221221-23647, fax –28715, e-mail zentrales-vergabeamt@stadt-koeln.de. For details of all tunnels involved in this project visit tunnelbuilder archive de/106. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=062973-2010. 10/10...

Vicenzetto Srl of Villa Estense have secured the EUR587,987 contract for test drilling and boring work in Brenner Base tunnel. Contact Johann Hager at BBT SE in Innsbruck, tel +43 5124030, fax +43 5124030-110, e-mail ava@bbt-se.com. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=062301-2010 and www.vicenzetto.it. ..

The CPV consortium, formed by CSC SA (Lugano) and Pizzarotti SA (Bellinzona), signed the EUR43 million contract for the construction of Lot 854 at Vezia, the main lot of Ceneri Base Tunnel, including the south portal, 200 m of cut-and-cover tunnel, as well as drilling, blasting and lining both tunnels along a length of 300 m. Works at Vezia will continue until 2016. Commercial operation of the Ceneri Base Tunnel with scheduled train services is planned to start at the end of 2019. Of the total of 40.19 km of the Ceneri Base Tunnel, at the end of February 2010, 7,673 m, or 19.1%, had been ..

Imtech Austria Anlagentechnik GmbH of Linz have secured the contract for supply, installation and commissioning of ventilation equipment for the tunnel section of the Harter Plateau tramway line. For more, contact Ing. Harald Grogger at Managementservice Linz GmbH in Linz, tel +43 7323400-7982, fax -157982, e-mail h.grogger @ linzag.at. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=059736-2010. 10/10...

Rete Ferroviaria Italiana SpA is inviting companies to prequalify for civil engineering work on railway tunnels in Italy. Further information and documents from Iacomino Raffaele at Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato in Milan, tel +39 02637 148-19, fax –20, e-mail dns-qs@rfi.it to whom requests to participate should be sent. Visit

Pre-feasibility study being undertaken by ILF Consulting Engineers for construction of single track railway line along the Karakorum highway between the end of the existing railway network in the south at Havelian and the border between Pakistan and China near the famous Khunjrab Pass in the north.

Prequalification underway by MTR for tender reference no 703 for West Island Line SHW to SYP tunnels value EUR30 million with a view to selective invitations to tender being issued in 4Q/2008 for contract award in 3Q/2009. Expressions of interest to Malcolm O’Neill, tel 3921 3383, e-mail moneill@mtr.com.hk Visit www.mtr.com.hk/eng/tenders/new_projects.html 45/08.

Consorcio Huachipa led by Brazilian construction firm Camargo Corrêa won the contract to design, build and operate the second biggest water treatment plant in Peru, valued at USD270.9 million. The new plant will be built in Huachipa, in the metropolitan area of Lima. Camargo Corrêa formed a consortium with French OTV, in which the Brazilian firm has an 81% share.

Spiekermann has been assigned the general planning for lots PFA 1.2 and PFA 1.6 for the Stuttgart 21 project. Click de/22. Visit www.spiekermann.de and www.stuttgart21.de 36/08.

The Tsuen Wan drainage tunnel is a single drive tunnel 5.1 km long sloping with an average of 0.95%. The tunnel cut diameter is 7.27 m segmentally lined with a minimum operational internal diameter of 6.5 m. The HKD1.123 billion contract is a design and build contract awarded to Maeda Corporation, China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) and SELI. The tunnel requires the construction of an intake cascade (Intake I-1), two shaft / chamber / adit complexes (Intakes I-2 and I-3), and a cascade structure (Outfall O-1).

The Bolivian road administration (ABC) has started on 26th August the construction of the Falda de la Queñua bypass road tunnel, during an official ceremony held in El Molino in the Iscayachi municipality. The Falda de la Queñua bypass road, which forms part of the Potosi-Tarija road link, will reduce transport time from Potosi to Tarija, avoiding the Sama hill.

Howden Ventilatoren will supply and install ventilation equipment (semi-transversal ventilation) in the second, 5.1 km Roppen tunnel and upgrade the existing tunnel on highway A 12 in Inn valley. Visit www.howden.com/en/Businesses/HowdenVentilatoren 36/08.

BrisConnections, the consortium of Thiess and John Holland, has signed a AUD90 million contract with Herrenknecht on 17th August, 2008 for two tunnel boring machines for the Airport Link road and tunnel project. They will be the two largest tunnel boring machines, at 12.48 m in diameter, to ever operate in Australia. Each TBM and its back-up will be 165 m long and weigh 3,000 tonnes.

In the tender organised by the transportation ministry's railroads, ports and airports construction general directorate (DLH), a Turkish-French consortium formed by Cengiz, Makyol, Dogus and VINCI offered the lowest bid in a tender for the construction of a road tunnel project that is to connect the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. The consortium offered a contract period of 19 years for the tunnel, six years for investment and 13 years for running. The tunnel will be located deeper than the tubes of the Marmaray project, a railway project currently under construction that will also link the two sides of the city. The tunnel, to be constructed under the Bosphorus, will have two levels and two lanes. Each level will be dedicated to one direction of traffic. Click tr/30. Visit www.dlh.gov.tr 34-35/08.

Ineco pocketed a EUR2.9 million contract for construction supervision of the 8 km A Vacariza-Rialiño and 8.6 km Rialiño-Padrón sections in La Coruña province on the Atlantic coast high speed link. This includes the 372 m Monte Ceán tunnel, the 866 m Monte Pozas tunnel and the 1,460 m Bustelo tunnel. Visit www.ineco.es 34-35/08.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded a SGD231.9 million contract for the design, construction and completion of the Downtown Line 1 Promenade station and its associated tunnels to Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. (STEC).

Norconsult has been selected to undertake the detailed engineering design and development of construction plan for the 4.4 km Gevingåsen railway tunnel. Visit www.norconsult.no 34-35/08.

Veidekke signed a NOK622 million contract for the construction of the Løren tunnel on Oslo's third ring road. The Løren tunnel will stretch from Økern to Sinsen and consists of a 2.9 km twin tunnel, of which 900 metres of rock tunnel as well as concrete portions at each end. Construction is expected to commence in September 2008 and to last for five years. When the Løren tunnel is completed in 2013, the existing stretch of the third ring road between Økern and Sinsen will be converted to a local road. Visit www.veidekke.no 34-35/08.

Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has handed over the feasibility study for an underground tunnel in Mumbai to Arup, following withdrawal by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) while they had begun the study of geological conditions. DMRC had initially volunteered to do the feasibility study for a tunnel, linking the Haji Ali area of central Mumbai to Nariman Point in south Mumbai. Arup will submit the report in two to three months. Other options being weighed, apart from the tunnel, are an undersea tunnel or the stiffly-opposed 4.35 km Pedder Road flyover that would help ease vehicular congestion due to the opening of the Bandra-Worli sealink bridge later this year. Visit www.arup.com 34-35/08.

Olympia Odos, the concession company led by VINCI Concessions (36%), in partnership with Hochtief PPP Solutions (25%) and three Greek construction companies, Aktor Concessions (18%), J&P-Avax (18%) and Athena (3%), has just completed with a consortium of 19 banks the financing arrangements for the concession contract for the Athens-Corinth-Patras-Tsakona motorway, the largest ever won by VINCI outside France.

A joint venture of BUNG and Müller+Hereth will supervise the construction of a 1,687 m-long, 100 sq m cross-sectional tunnel and a 1,613 m-long 20 sq m parallel safety tunnel, a shaft to be built using raise boring and other minor works on road B 29 in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Visit www.bung-ag.de and www.mueller-hereth.com 34-35/08

Ansaldo signed a EUR3.3 million deal to upgrade certain safety equipment in the 3,692 m Orelle tunnel on motorway A43. Visit www.asiansaldo.com 34-35/08.