STRABAG taps into India as new strategic market
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Diana Klein
Corporate Communications
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diana.klein(at)strabag.com
 
  • New large-scale project: Rohtang Pass Highway Tunnel – order volume for STRABAG € 150 million
  • STRABAG active in India for over ten years – country gaining in strategic importance
 
Vienna, 14 October 2009 The STRABAG Group has been awarded the tender for a new large-scale project in India. The order represents a success in the group’s efforts at tapping into this new strategic market.

Acting on behalf of the Indian government, the Border Roads Organisation awarded the tender to build the 8.8 km long Rohtang Pass Highway Tunnel to STRABAG AG Austria as consortium leader along with Indian construction firm AFCONS. At 3,980 m, Rohtang Pass in the western Himalaya region of northern India is one of the highest navigable mountain passes in the world. The cost of building the tunnel and roadway amount to about € 250 million. The STRABAG Group’s share stands at around € 150 million.

The Leh-Manali Highway, the only road connection to the northern border of Himachal Pradesh province, leads over Rohtang Pass. The heavy snowfalls and storms in the region mean the communities north of the pass are cut off from the rest of the country for at least four, sometimes six, months of the year when the road is closed during the winter. The construction of the Rohtang Tunnel at approx. 3,100 m above sea level will make the Leh-Manali Highway passable year-round and will contribute significantly to the economic development of the northern border region.

Special challenges in building the tunnel include the elevation, the extreme climate and the geologic conditions. The rock at the site consists mainly of slate and migmatite with three potential fault zones and squeezing rock in some places. The geologic conditions make the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) the method of choice. NATM allows the tunnelling work as well as the support techniques in the different rock zones to be flexibly adapted as needed. The necessary blasting equipment can also be transported to the northern portal of the tunnel over the narrow, curvy mountain pass.

The 8.8 km horseshoe-shaped tunnel will be 10 m wide, offering enough space for an 8 m wide two-lane roadway plus a 1 m wide walkway on each side. A 2.25 m high and 3.6 m wide escape tunnel will be integrated underneath the main roadway in the tunnel cross section. In all, the works will involve moving more than 800,000 m³ of rock. Tunnelling works are scheduled to begin in spring of 2010 and will proceed from both portals. As the northern portal will not be accessible during the winter months, the main tunnelling works will be focused at the southern end. With a planned construction time of about 5.5 years, the tunnel should be completed at the end of 2015.

The STRABAG Group has been active in India for over ten years, working on complex, technologically challenging projects. DYWIDAG International is currently working on extending the underground metro system in the Indian capital of Delhi after already successfully completing another order for the turnkey construction of a section of the system in June 2005.

Over the past few years, the group has continuously increased its output volume in India. While it recorded € 5.5 million in the financial year 2006, the number is expected to rise to € 29 million in 2009. The country is becoming increasingly important strategically for STRABAG due to its remarkable economic growth. Between 2006 and 2008, the Indian market grew by an annual average of some 9 %. Experts expect growth of more than 5 % for 2009 and over 6 % in 2010, ranking India among the world’s most dynamic markets.
STRABAG SE is one of Europe’s leading construction groups. With some 76,000 employees, STRABAG generated a construction output volume of € 13.7 billion in the 2008 financial year. From its core markets of Austria and Germany, STRABAG is present via its numerous subsidiaries in all countries of Eastern and South-East Europe, in selected markets in Western Europe and on the Arabian Peninsula. STRABAG’s activities span the entire construction industry (Building Construction and Civil Engineering, Transportation Infrastructures, Tunnelling) and cover the entire value-added chain in the field of construction. More information is available at www.strabag.com.