The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) has published an announcement from Femern A/S concerning the planned division of individual construction projects for the fixed link between Rødbyhavn and Puttgarden. Now split into four major contracts, invitations to tender for the mega-project which includes the construction of an 18km long immersed tube tunnel, will be offered at the end of this year.
“The announcement sends out a message that the project is now underway and that pre-qualification and the time for tender invitations is close,” says Steen Lykke, Technical Director at Femern A/S. “In other words, it’s now that the international construction companies should pay attention to the upcoming projects. We’re anticipating strong interest from contractors worldwide and especially those from Europe.”
Due to the size and complexity of the Fehmarnbelt project, it is expected that large international contractors will form consortia in order to bid for the contracts. The overall construction estimate is DKK 40.7 billion, (2008 prices).
The four major contracts are as follows:
1) Dredging of the seabed and land reclamation. The contractor will dredge an 18 km long, 80 m wide and 10 m deep trench in Fehmarnbelt to contain the tunnel. Excavations from the trench will result in approximately 15 million cubic metres of seabed, which will be re-purposed for new land areas, primarily off the coast of Lolland and to a lesser extent, Fehmarn. The contract also includes other major dredging tasks, such as the harbour basin, which will be the site for production of the tunnel elements in Rødbyhavn.
2) Construction of the Northern section of the tunnel. The contractor will be responsible for half the construction of the tunnel length and thus half the production site for the tunnel elements in Rødbyhavn. In addition, the contractor will produce, transport and immerse half of the tunnel elements, which will comprise approximately 40 standard and five special elements. This corresponds to around 9 km of tunnel.
3) Construction of the Southern section of the tunnel. This mirrors and matches the tasks contained in the contract for Northern section of the tunnel. The immersed tunnel is divided into equal parts in order to attract as many bids as possible and so encourage competition in both price and method.
4) Construction of portal structures, ramps and associated land facilities.The contractor will build the tunnel’s two portals and the two cut-and-cover tunnels on land, i.e. the sections between the undersea tunnel and ramps in both Germany and Denmark. The contract also covers ramps and connections to the existing traffic facilities on land as well as all finishing work such as road surface and cladding of walls throughout the tunnel.
In addition to these four contracts Femern A/S will invite tenders relating to railway construction and technical installations in general at a later stage.
To coincide with the announcement of the contract division, Femern A/S will be inviting the international construction world to a so-called Industry Day in Copenhagen on 21 March 2012. The purpose is to provide further information about the project and to lay the groundwork for potential partnerships and joint ventures among the participants.
Steen Lykke says: “The Industry Day and the upcoming pre-qualification are primarily intended for contractors with experience of working in multi-national environments. The many smaller and medium-sized companies around Fehmarnbelt will get involved when the pre-qualified contractors begin to calculate their bids in 2013 on the basis of our tender material.”
During the summer of 2012, Femern A/S expects to invite contractors to a pre-qualification process in order to identify those companies and consortia that are able to bid for the four main contracts. The first contracts are expected to be put out to tender at the turn of 2012/2013.
The Danish Parliament is expected to pass a Construction Act for the project at the turn of 2013/2014 and, following the approval the German authorities, the construction work can commence in the summer of 2014. The aim is for the Fehmarnbelt fixed link to open in 2020.
Contractors and media representatives who wish to participate in Industry Day on 21 March 2012 can register at www.femern.com.
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