The third section of Thu Thiem underwater tunnel was brought to the site for installation on May 5.
Luong Minh Phuc, Head of the management board of the East-West Avenue & Water Environment project said, “Unlike the other sections, the third section of Thu Thiem underwater tunnel was transported while water flow in the Sai Gon River was not necessarily stable. It will be dropped to sink at a depth of 27 metres which is the deepest level compared with the two previous sections.”
Phuc added that given such weather conditions, an extra back-up tug boat was also used in case anything should go wrong.
In addition, a diving group accompanied the transportation team to check and guard the section.
The third and final section arrives May 5
Nguyen Thanh Tai, Vice Standing Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City said, “The preparations for transporting the third section were very good. With experience from transporting the first and second sections, I believe transportation and installation of the third one will be even smoother.”
Regarding the soaking state of the two installed sections, construction experts believed that it was a serious issue that may affect life expectancy of the project, however Phuc assured that the situation was under control and was being resolved.
He also assured that the project’s quality would be the same as it was originally intended to be. The third section was checked very thoroughly before being carried to the site.
According to the steering committee of transportation, due to weather challenges, it will take more time for the transportation. Furthermore, installation also will be more difficult because the third section will be located right in the middle of the river and water flow speed is very high. Thus, it will take about 5-6 hours to complete the installation.
In order to successfully transport the third section, the steering committee demanded to maintain all transportation boats which were used for the previous sections. Experts from the station for hydro-meteorological forecasting observed water flow development to decide the departure time. In addition, the river area from Binh Khanh confluence, Nha Be District to My Canh, District 1, was isolated during transportation and installation of the third section.
Experts keep a close eye on the transportation