The construction contract for the EUR133 million Lai Chi Kok Transfer Scheme, advertised at tunnelbuilder.com earlier this year, has been awarded to Leighton Asia. The project includes two 4.9 m-diameter storm water drainage tunnels with total length of 3.7 km between West Kowloon reclamation and Lai Chi Kok and Sham Shui Po districts, six intake shafts, a stilling basin, an outfall adit into Victoria Harbour, and 270 m of 3 m-diameter connection adits. Work starts immediately for completion in 2012. More from Quinnie Lee, tel +852 2823 1427, e-mail quinnie.lee@leightonasia.com 47/08..

Contract valued EUR414,000 awarded by Norwegian Railway Infrastructure Administration to Norconsult AS of Sandvika to provide technical and detailed plans of tunnels for the joint project E6 road and Dovrebanen, lot Minnesund-Kleverud, which includes one twin-tube 0.6 km-long road tunnel and 3.1 km of single railway tunnel over a 17 km-long alignment in Eidsvoll and Stange municipalities. ..

Contract for telecommunications installations for 6.5 km section of new double railway track in Baerum municipality for Lysaker-Sandvika, of which 5.5 km in tunnel, awarded by Jernbaneverket to T Connect AS of Manglerud, Oslo. http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=292852-2008 More from Olaf Bjerknes, tel +47 9943 4144, e-mail olbj@jbv.no 46/08. ..

Bemel Norge AS of Majorstuen, Oslo has been awarded the contract to supply ventilation fans to the 5.37 km-long Atlantic Ocean tunnel between Kristiansund and Bremnes on National Road 64 in the value EUR555,000...

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.

Prior information notice for construction works, value EUR24.86 million, for a undergroung cut-and-cover tunnel from Pabellon Moises Ruiz to Plaza de Barcelona, 1,1 km, with 0.8 m-thick base, 1.0 m-thick walls and 1.0 m-thick roof, on Carretera de Ronda, in Almeria. The works will include intermodal station.

The Austin city council approved Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the Waller Creek tunnel project, which includes funding for design, bidding and construction. The USD28.3 million design contract went to a joint venture between Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) and Espey Consultants. That process is expected to be complete in 2010. The build portion will include an estimated USD100 million contract for construction of the project. Construction is expected to take place from 2010 to 2014. Click here. Read E-News Weekly 26/2007, 16/2007, 34/2006, 27/2006, 32/2003, 22/2003, 20/2003 & 12/2003. Visit www.kbr.com and www.espeyconsultants.com 38/07.

Systra pocketed a EUR2.3 million contract extension for assistance to the owner as part the extension of Line 1 between La Timone and La Fourragère and the refurbishment of the Noailles tunnel for the tramway. Visit www.systra.com 37/07.

CMC of Italy has signed a EUR42.5 million contract for the execution of Tunnel #9, which is part of the Yintao water supply project, comprising more than 200 km of tunnels. Tunnel #9 has a length of 18.3 km, an excavation diameter of 5.75 metres and a finished diameter of 4.96 metres. The contract has been awarded to the Gansu Zhongyi joint venture formed by CMC and Sinohydro Engineering Bureau No. 4. The tunnel will be executed in 65 months using a TBM for the excavation and the subsequent lining made up of precast segments. The project is located in the province of Gansu, 130 km from the town of Lanzhou, where CMC already executed, at the end of eighties, the Yindaruqin irrigation project. Visit www.cmc.coop 37/07.

Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. (STEC) has won a CNY530 million contract from the Shenzhen metro corporation for the construction of a 4.8 km section of Line 2. About three kilometres of tunnel will be built by tunnel boring machine.

Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. (STEC) has been awarded a CNY279 million contract in Hangzhou for the design and construction of running tunnels between Binjiang station and the Fuchun Street station on Line 1 of the Hangzhou metro. Read E-News Weekly 36/2007. Visit www.stec.net or www.tunnelling.cn 36/07.

A joint venture headed by Geodata, with Tecnicoop, Siteco, Policreo and Ineco as partners, won the tender to carry out the final design of Phase 1 of the metrotram in Bologna, offering a discount of EUR625,000, or 25% less than the tender estimate of EUR2.5 million. The contract is for construction design for the 3.5 km, first lot from Fiera Michelino to the central railway station and preliminary design up to Maggiore Hospital.

Zecon Engineering received a letter in July 2007 from the Jabatan Bekalan Air Negeri Sembilan, the Department of water supply in Negeri Sembilan state, accepting the company's tender for construction of the Triang transfer tunnel and associated works (package 1, scheme B) for an amount of MYR125 million.

Excavation and structural work on the SGD12 billion Downtown Line (DTL) will be started during the last quarter of 2007. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) awarded contracts for Phase 1 of the DTL worth nearly SGD500 million to three construction firms which have extensive experience in large-scale projects in Singapore.

Samsung Engineering and Construction is leading a group of six other South Korean contractors that submitted proposals to the Seoul metropolitan city government at the end of June for the KRW570 billion construction of a tunnel under the Han river.

Indra pocketed a EUR4.6 million contract to supply and install safety and control systems in the Juan Carlos I tunnel in Viella in Lerida province. The new tunnel, located on the Vilaller-Viella section of trunk road N-230, will be equipped with the most modern safety and control systems, including signage, video monitoring, video detection, telephone and videoconference, IP communication network, fire detection, radio communication, SOS stations and ventilation and lighting control.

Euskontrol bagged a EUR1.3 million contract for work control and site supervision for section 4 Trapagaran-Gotostiza, section 5 Gorostiza-Kadagua, section 7 Kadagua-Peñascal and section 8 Peñascal-Larraskitu of the south metropolitan bypass, a new highway to relieve the A-8 in Bilbao. Section 4 includes the Argalario and Mesperuza tunnels, respective lengths of 1,816 m / 1,794 m and 538 m / 590 m. Section 5 includes the Santa Agueda tunnel (1,980 m / 1,964 m). Section 7 includes the Arraiz tunnel (2,261 m / 2,263 m) and a 247 m tunnel at the exit to Kadagua. Section 8 includes the Larraskitu tunnel (831 m / 894 m). Visit www.euskontrol.com 36/07.

GEO and Per Aarsleff have been contracted to undertake a series of deep borings for sampling of geotechnical information along the alignment and at station and shaft locations of the planned Circle Line. The programme considers 150-200 borings down to 50 m. Pumping tests will be made from a number of these borings.

Euroestudios and Fulcrum teamed up to get a EUR4.3 million contract for site supervision and work inspection during construction of the Lemoa-Galdakao and Galdakao-Basauri high speed rail sections in Biscay province. The 5.4 km Lemoa-Galdakao section includes the 1,820 m-long Galdakao tunnel. The 3.6 km Galdakao-Basauri section includes a 2,728 m-long tunnel. Visit www.euroestudios.es and www.fulcrum.es 35/07.

The executive design and construction of a 3.95 km section of Line 4, whereof approx. 2 x 2.8 kilometres of TBM-driven single-track tunnels and two stops, have been commissioned to a joint venture of Hochtief, Zueblin, Prien and H.C. Hagemann. Visit www.hochtief.de and www.zueblin.de 34/07.

A consortium comprising Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES), Pacific Consultants International (PCI) from Japan, PBI from the US and Systra from France has been awarded a general consultancy services contract for the implementation of Phase 1 of the Bangalore metro project. RITES is leading the consortium and its share in the INR2.15 billion contract works out to about 58.8%. The metro project is being undertaken by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation.