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 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.

Dragages Hong Kong, in joint venture with French parent Bouygues, has won a HKD515 million contract to build a 1,245 m-long, 6 m-diameter tunnel for a funicular railway at Ocean Park. Excavation of the tunnel will be mainly carried out using drill and blast techniques. The contract also includes excavation work to reduce the height of a mountain from 183 m to 130 m to create a new platform. Visit www.bouyguesasia.com and www.oceanpark.com.hk 09/07.

Pöyry has been awarded a consultancy contract for the Taihang and Nanliang high speed rail tunnels in Shaanxi and Hebei provinces. The services relate to carrying out preliminary design studies on aspects of disaster prevention and rescue as well as ventilation in the Taihang and Nanliang tunnels, China's longest twin tube high speed railway tunnel. The Taihang mountain tunnel is extremely long and is the key engineering project on the 250 km/hour Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan passenger dedicated line, located between Xiao Zhai and Yu Xian County stations. The tunnel passes through the Yue Xiao mountain, the main ridge of the Taihang mountain range, with a maximum cover of 445 m. The tunnel design is twin tube with single track, and the distance between the two tubes is 35 m. The left tube is 27,839 m long. The right tube is 27,848 m long. The Nanliang tunnel is situated in the mid south section of the Taihang mountain range. The terrain consists of middle to low mountains with bedrock ravine erosion and denudation. The line is due to be completed and the tunnels opened for railway traffic during 2008. Visit www.poyry.com 07/07.

A contract worth CNY1.18 billion has been awarded to the 12th Bureau Group of China Railway Construction Corp. to build the 10.8 km Shiziyang rail tunnel. The contract includes the construction of an undersea tunnel for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen express rail line between Dong Yong station and Fu Men station. The undersea tunnel contract covers the construction of a dual tunnel section with tunnel tubes of 5,550 metres and 5,250 metres long respectively, a 23 m TBM work shaft and 10 connecting passages along the tunnels. The tunnels will be built using four NFM Technologies slurry TBMs, 11.12 m in diameter. Click here. Visit www.chinarailway.com.hk and www.nfm-technologies.com 35/06.

Invitation to tender, deadline 14th July, 2006 for design and build contract for the Macau-Taipa tunnel and access routes in both sides, including the design, preparation and execution of works and the supply and installation of equipment on site. This is for two road tunnels between the Macau peninsula and Taipa Island. The tunnels, which will be one-way with three lanes each, will each be around two kilometres long. The cost is expected to total USD130.2 million. The maximum time for completion of the whole of the works is 960 days (two years and eight months), including all the design works, all necessary studies and all the construction works. Work on the project should begin at the end of 2006 and be concluded in mid 2009. Contact GDI (Gabinete para o Desenvolvimento de Infra-estruturas), Avenida Rodrigo Rodrigues, Edificio Nam Kwong, 10º andar, E/F, Macau. Tel. +853 7137246, fax +853 713728. E-mail gdi@macau.ctm.net 20/06.

Scetauroute, in partnership with four Chinese engineering firms, has signed an engineering contract related to construction of the infrastructure and installation of the equipement on section 3 (182 km) of the Wuhan-Canton high speed line (900 km) on behalf of Wuhan Guangzhou Passenger Railroad Corporation, a subsidiary of the Ministry of railways. Section 3 is in Hunan province, on each side of Chenzhou, 300 km north of Canton. Its construction will require 66 tunnels (40 km) and two new stations. Scetauroute will be in charge of defining and following up the quality control. The contract will last four years (January 2006 to June 2010). Opening of the line is scheduled for December 2009. Visit www.scetauroute.com 17/06.

Qingdao, a port city in east China's Shandong Province, is seeking investments for constructing two subsea tunnels in Jiaozhou Bay. Xinshi Industrial Co. Ltd. is the project developer. The tunnels would connect Xuejia Isle of the Huangdao Island District and Tuandao Isle of Qingdao by crossing at the mouth of Jiaozhou Bay. The subsea tunnels, extending some 6,170 m, will have six lanes capable of accommodating vehicles with a speed of 80 km per hour. The project is expected to cost 3.186 billion yuan (about USD400 million). The investment is expected to be recovered in about 11 years. The tunnels are expected to be completed in four years. 02/06.

  €2 billion toll bridge project announced to link Lantau Island in Hong Kong with Zhuhai and Macao, west of it. Two artificial islands linked together by a 1.4 km tunnel will be built in the middle of the delta to allow ship navigation. Main financier is Hopewell Group (50%). 37/03.Hong Kong's Highways Department appointed Arup to carry out a feasibility study for the Hong Kong section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge. The assignment involves preliminary design and an environmental impact assessment for about 12 km of bridge works that will be built in Hong Kong waters from Lantau Island. About 3 km of bridge could be replaced by a tunnel if the elevated structure is found to affect operations at nearby Hong Kong International Airport. The Hong Kong section will connect to the 30 km portion in mainland waters across the mouth of the Pearl River from Macau and Zhuhai. Visit www.hyd.gov.hk and www.arup.comThe only bridge designs that have been done so far are those by Hopewell Holdings. Hopewell's plans show a combined tunnel and bridge. From Zhuhai and Macau traffic would cross on a low-rise concrete bridge before descending into a tunnel under the Pearl River's main navigational channel before emerging close to Hong Kong waters. A low-rise bridge would be used to take traffic to the west coast of Lantau Island. Visit www.hopewellholdings.com 17/04.Arup has won a contract from the Road and Bridge Construction Investment Corporation of Xiamen to carry out the detailed design of the 3.23 billion yuan Xiamen East tunnel in Fujian. Arup secured the deal in partnership with China Communications Second Highway Survey, Design and Research Institute (CCSHI) in Wuhan. The firm will be responsible for designing measures to improve the ground conditions to make the tunnel easier to excavate. Arup will also design the tunnel ventilation equipment, carry out a fire safety assessment and prepare a health monitoring system. Arup will also carry out a construction and operation risk assessment.The link will be China's first subsea tunnel. The 6 km tunnel will be built as part of a 9 km highway linking Xibin in Xiamen's Xiangan district with Wutong on Xiamen Island in the East China Sea. The tunnel will be built using the drill/blast technique through granite bedrock. It will comprise two horseshoe-shaped tunnels, each accommodating a three-lane carriageway, plus a central service tunnel containing power, mechanical, electrical, communications and rescue facilities. The tunnel is expected to be completed in four years. Subscribe to E-News Weekly 23/2004. Visit www.arup.com 28/04.

Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. started construction of the 2.2 km Xiangyin Road tunnel in Shanghai, linking Xiangyin Road in Puxi with the planned Wuzhou Avenue in Pudong. The tunnel, which has a total investment of US$145.15 million, will become the sixth tunnel across the Huangpu River when it is completed by the end of 2005. Visit www.stec.net 27/03.