The Bouregreg valley development agency awarded a MAD491 million contract for construction of the 1,022 m-long Oudayas tunnel to Italian companies Pizzarotti and Alpi DE.CO. The CID / Lombardi JV will be responsible for the studies and technical assistance. LPEE has been commissioned with the geotechnical studies and quality control. The Kasbah of the Oudayas is ringed by impressive walls and fabulous gates and encloses a vibrant souk, a small museum of Moroccan art, lovely Andalusian gardens, and Rabat's oldest mosque built in 1150. Currently, 30,000 daily vehicles, whereof 3,500 trucks, cross the Kasbah. The tunnel will be a twin tube tunnel, with two lanes per direction. Construction will last 36 months to end in 2010. Read E-News Weekly 45/2006. Visit www.bouregreg.com, www.pizzarotti.it, www.alpideco.it, www.cid.co.ma, www.lombardi.ch and www.lpee.ma13/07.

International call for tenders, deadline 16th January, 2007 for construction of collector sewer D-amont, project A 141, lot 4.1, of a length of 2,965 m and 1.1 to 2.2 m in diameter. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=244915-2006, OJ S 229, or contact RADEEMA, tel. +212 24424300, fax +212 24447853. 50/06.International call for tenders, deadline 16th January, 2007 for construction of the central collector, project A 118, lot 4.2, of a length of 2,070 m and 1.2 to 1.8 m in diameter. Visit http://ted.europa.eu/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=244914-2006, OJ S 229, or contact RADEEMA, tel. +212 24424300, fax +212 24447853. 50/06.

Qualification system, deadline 19th January, 2006 for preliminary design and environment impact study for the Gibraltar fixed link between Spain and Morocco. Click here and read E-News Weekly 30/2005 & 5/2005. Visit http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?request=Seek-Deliver&language=en&docid=232324-2005, OJ S 235, or contact SECEG, Madrid, fax +34 915796086. E-mail froca@secegsa.com 02/06.A JV of Typsa, Lombardi, Ingema and Geodata has won the contract for the preliminary design and environment impact study for the 40 km railway tunnel between Europe and Africa running under the Strait of Gibraltar. Typsa leads and manages the JV and is responsible for the EIS while Lombardi is the leader for the technical project. The JV has one year to draw up the plans for one of the most complex projects of its kind ever. Preliminary studies should be finished by 2008. If the project goes ahead, it will be a close cousin of the Eurotunnel that runs under the Channel between France and Britain. Running at depths of 300 to 600 metres, it will connect Tarifa in Spain to Tangiers in Morocco. A 4.8 m-wide service tunnel will be built first. This tube should help the engineers figure how much water might leak into the tunnel. The pressure on the tunnel will be huge, approximately 500 tonnes per square metre, so powerful pumps will be needed to avoid it filling up with water. Another problem is the risk of earthquakes in an active seismological zone. Read E-News Weekly 30/2005 & 5/2005. Click here. Visit www.typsa.es, www.lombardi.ch, www.ingema.co.ma and www.geodata.it 41/06.

  12.4 km second aqueduct being driven by 7.2 m Robbins variable frequency drive, single shield TBM in deformed Palaeozoic rocks including abrasive quartzite and compact green schist with UCS of 33 to 120 Mpa with fractures and faults. TBM equipped with back-loading 17 in wedge-block cutters; rotary segment erector for six-piece precast concrete lining; ZED guidance system and automatic thrust control and steering. April 1995.

4.2 km horseshoe-shaped tunnel 3.6 m x 3.9 m to be excavated by roadheader and supported by lattice girders and shotcrete. Contractors are GICO of Italy. April 1999.