international
construction
april 2015
SITEREPORT
66
Olympic vision
construction, there is 5 km monorail
being built to link them all together in a
loopwhich also crosses amain arterial city
road to theOlympicVillage complex.
So while a 1.57 km
2
site may sound
big, and in the case of the Olympic
Complex there are a lot of open spaces at presentwhichwill later
be landscaped, there is not much room to work. “It is such a
congested site that it is verydifficult tohandle,” saidMrKarakus.
Indeed, aside from the construction challenges of the project,
the logistics are formidable. Mr Karakus said there were 14,000
people on the city-centre sitewhen
iC
visited inFebruary, which
by nowwill have risen to15,000.
“We evenneed to plan how to get people on and off the site at
the start andfinishof shifts, becausewe are in themiddleof a city
andwe only have a few access points to the site.Things like the
cafeteriaandmeal times takea lotofwork -wehave toget14,000
people sitting down and fed,” he said.
And the list of equipment being used on this scheme is
formidable. Mr Karakus listed more than 330 major pieces of
equipment in use on the day
iC
visited the scheme.The lifting
equipment alone includes 66 mobile cranes up to 250 tonnes
capacity, 31 tower cranes and32 loader cranes.
Meanwhile, there aremore than100 on-highway trucks on the
project, 40 takingmaterial off site and 60 just moving it within
the confines of the project. Off-highway equipment included 12
wheeled excavators, 25 tracked excavators, 31 backhoe loaders
and22 telehandlers.
And althoughPolimeks doesnot own the equipment itself, here
again is a logistical headache.”Most of the machines are rented,
somaintenance isn’t an issue for us, but getting enough diesel to
keep them fed is a challenge,” saidMrKarakus.
Indeed, almost every aspect of the project involves mind-
bogglingnumbers.The total excavationandearthmoving is about
9millionm
3
, total truck journeys total 22.5millionkm todate –
almost 60 times thedistance from the earth to themoon– and so
far there have been81millionman-hoursworkedon the project.
Despite all this, the scheme is on track. According to Mr
Karakus, Phase II is 75% complete, with the final deadline of
December this year. “We expect to finish 4 months ahead of
schedule,” he said.
Mr Karakus puts the success of the project down to careful
planning and resource allocation, accompanied by lots of
monitoring. “The team on this job is very experienced and we
monitor things on aweekly basis,” he said.
And in addition, he said the constructive attitudeof the client –
the government ofTurkmenistan–hadbeen essential.
Mr Karakus said, “Getting payment on time is critical because
the amount of money is huge. You can’t go to a bank and get
credit for those sorts of amounts. So the government’s support
and their timely payments have been essential.”
Indeed, Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow
is said to be taking a personal interest in the scheme, having
visited the site seven times since the start of work, according to
MrKarakus.
iC
Inside the bowl
of the under-
construction
45,000 seater
outdoor stadium.
The Velodrome
features a 130m
span roof.
Construction of
this involved
placing a 350
tonne steel truss
section in a single
lift.
Looking up the site from the Northwith the completed Phase I in the foreground.
The buildings include an 800-bed hotel to the left of the frame and the 15,000
seatermulti-purpose indoor arena to the right. Above the hotel is the 5,000 seater
combat sports arena and training halls, with the Velodrome in the distance.
A 5 kmmonorail
will link the
venues and the
Olympic Village in
a continuous loop
around the site.
