Cuban Facilities Needed In Global Terrorism Fight

Pittsburgh-based Dick Corp. has signed a $13.5-million U.S. Navy design-build contract to build a new two-story, 3,500-sq-m building in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that includes suspected terrorist detention and interrogation facilities.

The structure will be located on a secure site and work is scheduled for December 2004 completion. The Navy has an option toaward a $4.2-million design-build contract for a courtroom with linked facilities. Architectural and engineering design is being performed by Michael Baker Corp., Moon Township, Pa.

For legal and political reasons, Dick must ship all equipment and materials from Florida and hire third-country nationals for site work. Dick must be self-sufficient and not rely on nearby Cuban resources. Construction is scheduled to start in January.

Wastewater Treatment Job Completed in Chile

One of Latin America’s largest wastewater treatment plants has been completed under a $220-million design-build contract. The late October inauguration of the Farfana works in Santiago, Chile, means some 3.7 million people, or half the city’s population, will now have their wastewater treated for the first time.

The 8.8-cu-m-per-sec unit, located near the Mapocho River, was completed within budget and "a month in advance compared to contractual requirements," says Bernard Neguelouart, who runs the Chilean office of France’s Degrémont S.A., the turnkey builder. Degrémont started commissioning last May and contractually is required to operate the plant for a year, he says.

Degrémont designed and managed installation of all the plant's equipment, which was largely sourced in Europe. Its local subcontractors dealt with civil and other site work.

Degrémont is owned by the Paris-based Suez Group, which has a major stake in Aguas Andinas S.A., Santiago’s partly privatized water and wastewater utility. But the firm still had to bid against international rivals for the contract. Degrémont won the contract in March 2001 and began construction that November.

The Farfana plant, which includes biological treatment, is a major element of Santiago’s estimated $1.8-billion water infrastructure improvement plan, scheduled for completion in 2009.

Cable-Stayed Bridge To Span Orinoco River

Work has begun on the first pylon of a $480-million design-build contract for the 3.1-km rail and road crossing of Venezuela’s Orinoco River. With the substructure of the river’s second crossing virtually complete, the design-build team aims to start erecting a composite deck next May. The team will use locally assembled elements fabricated in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

To speed construction, the design-build team led by Brazil-based Construtora Norberto Odebrecht substantially changed an initial government agency plan, according to the contractor’s project manager, Estevão Timponi. Odebrecht won the contract, which also includes 166 km of linked highways, in June 2000.

Over one-third of the Orinoco crossing will be cable stayed, providing two 300-m navigation spans. Their two 120-m-long stayed anchor spans will abut at a common support of two inclined piers forming an inverted V. "That was the most efficient way to transmit the high stresses to the foundations," explains Timponi.

For its design, Odebrecht hired the BRAVE consortium, led by Brazil’s Figueiredo Ferraz Consultoria e Engenharia de Projeto Ltd., and supported by German cable-stay specialist Leonhardt, Andra und Partner. Their final design is different from that of locally based Lustgarten Ingenieros Asociados, prepared for the government’s project agency, Corporación Venezolana de Guayana. Instead of being reinforced concrete on prefabricated beams, the cable-stayed deck is a composite with a central 5.7-m-wide by 5.5-m-deep steel box girder connected with steel edge beams via a series of outriggers. Also, at 60 m, approach spans are 50% longer than initially planned.

Odebrecht subcontracted about 24,500 tons of steelwork supply and erection to Brazil’s Usiminas Mecanica S.A. France’s Freyssinet International S.A. will supply bearings and cable stays.

The project started in 2001 and is scheduled for a 2005 completion. It will connect Ciudad Guayana with the northern portion of the country and help develop Venezuela’s eastern region.