As rumours continued this month in the FM industry regarding the stability of Nakheel’s Palm development and the ditching of its dredging contractor Van Oord, the developer hit back through a company spokesperson.
“A system known as vibro-compaction was used to increase the load-bearing capacity of the reclaimed land mass.”
This, he continued, causes the soil to vibrate vigorously, which in turn leads to very deliberate and calculated compaction and settlement; hence the apparent sinking effect talked about.
“Additional layers of soil are placed onto the ground and further compaction takes place until the final design level is obtained. Vibro-compaction at Palm Jumeirah was undertaken using a closely spaced grid of 2.5m to 3.5m, resulting in an effective load-bearing capacity of 150kN/m2, which is about twice that of mainland Dubai.”
On the future of dredging contractor Van Oord, the spokesperson said: “We are in discussions with all our key suppliers and contractors to ensure that our working relationships take into account the current market environment. The precise details of these discussions are, of course, confidential.”
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