Ongoing progress for Hong Kong water mains program

Black & Veatch, a global engineering, consulting and construction company, has announced that the investigation and design of Stage 4 of the Replacement and Rehabilitation Programme of Water Mains in the New Territories of the Hong Kong SAR is making good progress.

“There is a continuing need for large-scale programs of this type around the world, as many cities are relying on aging underground systems to convey their potable water,” said Ralph Eberts, senior managing director of Black & Veatch’s Asia Pacific water business.

“Rehabilitation projects help to ensure the long-term availability and reliability of a community’s water supply.”

The Replacement and Rehabilitation (R&R) Programme of Water Mains in Hong Kong SAR will result in a total of 3000 km of water mains rehabilitated or replaced by 2015 at an estimated cost of HK$19.2 billion.

Among the recent various R&R consultancy agreements that were awarded at the end of November 2008, the largest of these was awarded to Black & Veatch.

The Black & Veatch agreement, which forms part of Stage 4 of the program, includes the rehabilitation and replacement of more than 400 km of water mains in the New Territories of Hong Kong. In terms of pipe length, this increases the total length of pipelines that Black & Veatch is responsible for in Hong Kong to more than 1000 km.

“We have been very conversant with various rehabilitation techniques for the aged water mains, and we are very familiar with the New Territories area,” said Alan Man, Black & Veatch’s Business Leader in Hong Kong SAR.

“This is a significant new project for our Hong Kong business. At the project’s peak, we expect to require over 100 resident site staff on the project.”

Black & Veatch began working on Stage 1 of the program in 2000, and supervised the largest swagelining operation ever undertaken in Asia. Swagelining is a process that pulls a new, tight-fitting polyethylene pipe inside new or existing pipelines to reduce leaks and restore existing infrastructure. Black & Veatch used this process to rehabilitate approximately 1800 m of 700 mm and 800 mm diameter water mains situated below the Tolo Highway, one of the most important transportation links between Hong Kong and Mainland China, with minimal disruption to traffic flow.

In 2005, the company secured three out of the four consultancy agreements for Stage 2 of the program; these have included the rehabilitation of five 1200 to 1400 mm diameter mains located below the heavily trafficked Lion Rock road tunnel.