MUSCAT -- Haya Water Company, tasked with implementing the Main Spine Line project, has commenced installation of the main line using micro-tunnelling technology. Abdullah al Hashemi, Director-General of Projects at Haya Water, said the first phase of the 19-kilometre main transportation line kicked off last week in the Wilayat of Seeb. He added that the new technology will enable the laying of wastewater networks without the need for digging open trenches.
Micro-tunnelling has many benefits, according to Al Hashemi. It ensures free traffic and pedestrian movement, reduces excavation-related noise associated with conventional excavation machinery and trucks, cuts down pollution from dust, and does away with the need to cut down trees and excavate green patches located along the route of the networks.
An excavation machine currently being used by Haya Water will be supplemented by another machine due to arrive at site by the end of this month. Three more machines are due to arrive by the end of August, taking the number of giant and modern excavation equipment to a total of five, Al Hashemi said. The radius of the main pipeline ranges between 1.3 to 2.5 metres, while a total of 67 manholes will be constructed along the route of the pipeline in order to facilitate maintenance in the future, the official said.
The line will transport wastewater coming from the various areas in the Wilayat of Seeb, starting from Burj al Sahwa Roundabout to the Main Treatment Plant in Al Manoomah. Wastewater will flow through 20 points that will receive sewage flowing from sub-networks to the main line. As the main line works on natural gravity, the pipelines will have to laid on a slight incline to allow for the wastewater to flow naturally, aided by a number of pumping stations in some places.
As part of the RO 55 million project, a total of 23km of Main Collection Lines will be installed, of which 19 kilometres of pipeline will be laid through micro-tunnelling, and the rest through open excavation. Significantly, this is the third project being carried out by Haya Water in the Wilayat of Seeb as part of the Muscat Wastewater Project.
The company is also setting up a treatment plant with a daily capacity of 80,000 cubic metres, besides designing and constructing three main pumping stations and treated water networks in Al Khoudh and Al Maabelah, as well as the design and construction of a sea-flowing line. The total cost of the project is projected at around RO 88 million.
The company is also engaged in the implementation of a wastewater networks project that operates on the air vacuum system in the coastal areas of Wilayat Seeb at a cost of about RO 87 million. Work on this project is expected to be completed by the end of 2011 and consists of 10 air vacuum plants and 212 kms of wastewater networks, in addition to networks that operate through gravity system stretching for a length of 480 km.
Also included in the project are around 10,000 residential connections and a treated effluent network of a length of 43 km. Haya Water intends to carry out two other projects in the Wilayat of Seeb related to separate networks in Al Khoudh, Al Mawaleh and North Al Hail. The total cost of these projects for the Wilayet of Seeb will be around RO 400 million.
By Staff Reporter
© Oman Daily Observer 2009
