Bahrain contractor opts for Robot Rehabilitation

A robot, similar to this is being used to refurbish a sewer main.

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Robots are being used to scour, scan and repair Bahrain’s ageing underground sewer network and bring the system up to 21st century standards.

German contractor Frisch & Faust Tiefbau GmbH, a firm which specialises in trenchless pipe driving, has taken the lead on the five month project.

An existing but elderly sewage system had been struggling to keep up with the flow of the island’s burgeoning population. Local residents, particularly in the Zubara Avenue area have been complaining about the smell and occasional foul flooding for some time, and as such, the Ministry of Works ordered the upgrade.

In total, the BD641,000 (US $17m) project measures around 1.5km, and is consists of both new and replacement pipework. The contractor plans to use a technique known as ‘Robotic Rehabilitation’, where remote controlled vehicles can be sent underground to repair, reline and re-profile existing pipework, thus saving the need to dig up the roads and cause disruption.

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"The network is extremely old, over-used and not able to handle the present requirements,” Fahmi Al Jowder, Works Minister said at the project's inauguration last month.
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"The sewerage network in the area dates back to the early 1980s and needs to be upgraded," he said.  "We are aware there are grave problems in the area because underground water leaks into the network and causes flooding."

"We have to rectify current situation and overcome problems in the network and we have to do it as soon as possible to avoid inconvenience to the people."

The sewer upgrade is one of a series of projects being ordered by the Bahrain Government is the Kingdom upgrades its infrastructure. Construction Week reported earlier this week that Bahrain’s Ministry of Works (MOW) had reported encouraging progress on it local infrastructural works during 2009 against a background of worldwide economic pressure and additional demands placed on the region.

The MOW’s BHD128.3m ( AED1.2b) budget was split between 651 contracts which were finalised during the year and totaled BHD47.3m, and managed projects for other ministries within the government worth BD61.3m and was part of the MOW remit to provide world class infrastructure within the Kingdom along Bahrain Economic Vision 2030 guidelines.