Contractor starts assembling tunnel boring machine

The Chinese contractor of the Karnaphuli Tunnel project has started assembling tunnel boring machine (TBM) to begin construction of the country's first tunnel under the River Karnaphuli soon, officials said.
They said all parts of the boring machine have already reached the construction site and its assemblage is going on 100 feet under the river.
"We expect to start the construction of the 3.5-kilometre four-lane tunnel by November," said a project official.
The Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA), the executing agency of the Tk 84.46-billion project funded by the Chinese government, awarded the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) the contract in June 2015 to construct the tunnel under government-to-government arrangement against its financial proposal of US$ 705 million.
But the project work commenced on December 05, 2017 due to failure to complete negotiations with Chinese Exim Bank on the amount of total loan. The project was inaugurated during the Chinese President's visit to Bangladesh in October 2016.
Officials said around 500 Chinese engineers, technicians and workers are working at the assembly site to complete the work.
Some local engineers have also been engaged at the site to gather experience, they added.
The TBM weighing more than 2,200 tonnes is about 12.12 metres in diameter and 94 metres in length.
The official said a cutter with diameter of 12.12 metres will be used to drive the road tunnel running under the Karnaphuli River.
According to a Xinhua report, the CCCC has selected Tianhe Mechanical Equipment Manufacturing Company Ltd through an international procurement process.
The tunnel project has been taken up with an objective to turn Chattogram into 'One City Two Towns' just like east and west Shanghai of China.
The total length of the proposed tunnel will be around 9.092 kilometres including 3.40-kilometre tunnel under the Karnaphuli River with an approach road of 4.89 kilometres alongside 740 metres of bridges linking the main port city.
The CCCC conducted a feasibility study in 2012 and 2013 in association with a Hong Kong-based firm and negotiated with the BBA with its proposal as the Chinese government showed interest to set up an exclusive economic zone on the other side of the tunnel.
Initially, the Chinese government committed to providing 85 per cent of the construction cost, but later it increased the amount to 100 per cent.
The tunnel will also connect the Chittagong-Cox's Bazar Highway with the proposed Asian Highway.
Project Director Harunur Rashid Chowdhury told the FE that the Chinese company imported the TBM at its own cost through an international tender.
The multilane tunnel route will pass through the river close to Navy College on one side and Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) and Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company (Kafco) on the other side.

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