Mina Abdullah Port

Innovative design and customised solutions ensured the timely delivery of this commuter corridor.

Stretching from Mina Abdullah Port, approximately fifty kilometres south of the Kuwaiti capital to the city of Al Wafrah just to the north of the Saudi Arabian border, the RA/238 road has been under development since 2016 and is now nearing completion. Working with main contractor Alghanim International, Doka was tasked with delivering a formwork solution for the full four-lane dual expressway whose scope included seven interchanges, storm water drainage, sewers and eight overpasses.

Covering a length of forty kilometres under a tight schedule, Doka was required to find a solution that would keep up with the contractor’s timetable while offering excellent value through its high-quality products and innovative formwork designs. After defining the formwork quantities with the contractor, Doka created an optimised shoring design with a high-load capacity, minimising the number of shoring legs and thereby reducing the number of concrete blocks required, as well as the assembly/ dismantling times. The team then designed an innovative custom-made, curved decking area, which circumvented the requirement of forming timbers, again allowing for quicker and easier pre-assembly. In addition to the unique designs, Doka’s high-quality galvanised shoring equipment meant the client will be able to continue enjoying the benefits of the system up to three times longer when compared to products made from conventional material.

Utilising more than 70,000m³ of d3 and 10,000m² of Top 50, Doka’s solution meant that after casting the concrete, the shoring equipment could be removed first in order to start the assembly of the shoring material on the next bridge. The decking units were then lowered using electric winches and the full units were transported to the next bridge before being lifted on top of the already assembled shoring towers.

Safety remained a high priority throughout the project, particularly with IC09 Bridge 3 which had to work around a slope of 6% with live traffic passing underneath it during construction.

Speaking on behalf of the contractor, project director Hassan Hadidi said, “Doka’s team were able to provide a solution that fitted perfectly with our construction schedule. In addition, their team was always on hand to provide assistance as necessary while continuing to find optimal solutions as the project progressed.”