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SCMP Reporter

Dragages has already moved on site in preparation for work on the Cheung Ching tunnels.

   THE Route 3 contract for the construction of the Cheung Ching tunnels has been awarded to Dragages et Travaux Publics, the local Hongkong arm of the French construction giant Bouygues.

  Speaking about the award of the $856-million contract, Dragages managing director Mr Michel Betant said the nearest other bidder was 15 per cent higher.

 The award of the contract for what must be the biggest tunnel project underway in Asia, took place on March 5, and Dragages gained possession of the site within 30 minutes.

  The award is a triumph for Mr Betant, and follows a series of near misses with other Airport Core Projects for the Hongkong branch of the French contracting firm.

   Mr Betant and his team spent millions of dollars and thousands of man hours competing for the Tsing Ma Bridge and the Kap Shui Mun bridge projects, only to be beaten into second place.

 The Cheung Ching Tunnels are two horseshoe-shaped, three-lane road tunnels, bored through 1.6 kilometres of solid granite on Tsing Yi island and connecting the primary road links between Kowloon Peninsula via the Rambler Channel Bridge, and the Tsing Ma suspension bridge.

  ''Right now we are establishing the site, mobilising equipment and making technical submissions to the Highways Department and consultants,'' said Mr Betant.

 Joint consultants are Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick, Haswell with Parsons Brinckerhoff.

  The greatest concentration of plant and site equipment and activity will be located on the west side of Tsing Yi island where the western portal of the tunnels is located, near the main pylon of the Tsing Ma bridge.

  Leighton, which has been contracted for the advanced earthworks project of the Route 3 interchange, has prepared an area of land for the Dragages team to start work.

  Much of the blasted rock will be transported to Chek Lap Kok to form part of the airport island reclamation.

 Leighton is already involved in transporting materials yielded by the Route 3 interchange job to Chek Lap Kok.

  Mr Betant compared the work with the construction of the Lion Rock tunnels 20 years ago.

 ''The basic technology has not changed,'' he said.

  ''You still drill holes, place explosive, blast, and take the product away.

  ''What has changed is the productivity.''   The driving equipment - a Jumbo - for the job has improved in speed and productivity.

  Mr Betant said the Tamrock Jumbo Driller which would be used was a wheeled, computer-operated drilling rig far superior to the older models.

  The drilling would take 20 months, tunnelling west to east, although the actual contract time was 36 months, according to Mr Betant.

  ''Handover will be November, 1995. Then comes all the lighting, ventilation and so on,'' he said.

  ''I think we will make money through efficiency, if the assumptions we made on the rock are good, and if we work quickly on the tunnel.

  At this stage of the Airport Core Programme, Mr Betant said contractors were able to take advantage of a more competitive market before big projects started impacting the inflation rate.

  ''So far there have been marine works and earthworks. When you get into a concrete type of job, which is more labour intensive, it's much more inflationary,'' he said.

  Dragages is a leading consortium member in one of two groups vying for the award of the Central Reclamation Project.

  At the request of the Government, and due to drawn out discussions, the two low bidders, the other led by Shui On Civil Contractors, extended the validity of their bids by another month.

  The central reclamation project has been designated an Airport Core Programme project under the terms of the Sino-British Memorandum of Understanding.

  Because it forms the base for the MTRC's Airport Railway, the critical Central Reclamation project has become subject to lengthy discussions which could, ultimately, cost the Hongkong taxpayer millions of dollars because of delays.



Cheung Ching tunnels triumph for Dragages