Improved airport for Thimarafushi atoll

Thimarafushi forms part of the Thaa Atoll lying in the Indian Ocean but access has been limited in the past. However the construction of a new airport planned by the Maldives Government will help develop the tourist trade, boosting the local economy. Most visitors previously used the country’s two international airports, using these as hubs for flights to the country’s six domestic airports. This has limited travel to only a few of the country’s 1,192 islands, of which around 200 are inhabited. As a result,
August 29, 2014 Read time: 3 mins
Caterpillar machines provide new runway surface on Thaa Atoll
RSS

Thimarafushi forms part of the Thaa Atoll lying in the Indian Ocean but access has been limited in the past

However the construction of a new airport planned by the Maldives Government will help develop the tourist trade, boosting the local economy. Most visitors previously used the country’s two international airports, using these as hubs for flights to the country’s six domestic airports. This has limited travel to only a few of the country’s 1,192 islands, of which around 200 are inhabited. As a result, reaching most of the islands requires travel by boat.

A few years ago, the Maldives Government began to build its seventh domestic airport, on the island of Thimarafushi. The scenic island was chosen because of its natural beauty, and also because it could serve as a hub for those wanting to travel by boat to other nearby islands.

Maldives Transport and Contracting Co (MTCC), a customer of 4018 Caterpillar Paving dealer Tractors Singapore Limited, was awarded the contract to develop the Thimarafushi Airport in May 2012. The project began with 31ha of land being reclaimed both for the construction of the airport and to provide adequate housing for the islanders. The reclamation portion of the airport project was completed in 2011. Project plans called for a 1200m long by 30m wide runway and taxiway, with an asphalt surface. MTCC used a fleet of Cat equipment through most phases of the project, including a CS533E soil compactor, AP655D asphalt paver, CB434D vibratory asphalt compactor, CW34 pneumatic compactor, 336D L hydraulic excavator, M313C wheeled hydraulic excavator, 120K grader and 924Gz wheeled loader.

Logistics posed a challenge as the equipment had to be delivered by landing craft and barge, which included the hot mix plant, which was transported in pieces. Operators, too, were hard to find. Tractors Singapore Limited provided training to the customer and operators before the project started. During the building of the runway, a Tractors Singapore Limited product application expert and an engineer visited the jobsite to provide assistance. But even their travel was difficult. First, they had to fly to a nearby atoll, and then use sea transportation. It took about a half day of travel to reach Thimarafushi from one of the country’s two international airports.


The runway is surrounded by sea on the reclaimed land. Site preparation included the placement and compaction of aggregate. Project specifications required that 100% compaction densities were achieved on four layers.

A 200mm sub-base was placed first, and the Cat CS533E compacted it to 150mm. The same process was followed for the second layer. The third layer consisted of binding material that was placed at 130mm and compacted to 100mm.

The fourth layer was asphalt with aggregates of 12.5mm, 9mm and 6mm. It was placed at 60mm and compacted to 50mm. A Cat AP655D asphalt paver with AS4251 screed handled the paving.

Paving production was limited because of the hot mix plant’s capacity of 45tonnes. During the average day, the paver placed a strip that was 5m wide and 700m long. Dump trucks hauled the mix the short distance from the plant to the runway.

RSS
Earthmoving & soil compaction Asphalt milling, paving & compaction

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Lintec developing novel asphalt plant solutions
    March 16, 2016
    Highly innovative, LINTEC’s new LEP 95 system is a new, patented warm mix asphalt solution. This can be configured to produce both hot and warm mix asphalt depending on demand at the job site. A major reduction in energy consumption and emissions can be achieved by the LINTEC system working in a temperature range of 95°C-100°C. This unitcan be fitted to new or existing plants and is said to produce a smooth and stable foam for an optimum mixing result at low temperatures, while it is reliable and has low ma
    Read More
  • BOMAG’s smart asphalt compaction technology in use
    May 25, 2016
    BOMAG’s highly sophisticated compaction control technology is now being used successfully on the highway project to link Warsaw with St Petersburg. The system is being employed in the rural area around the border triangle of Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus. Lithuanian road contractor Panevezio Keliai won the package of works to upgrade a stretch of the E262 in Zarasai. The project requires high quality as the E262 route links Warsaw with St Petersburg and carries a large volume of traffic, including a hig
    Read More
  • Yeti more autonomous snow-clearing by Semcon
    January 9, 2019
    Semcon, a Swedish applied automation company, said it has started an on-site project to clear snow from runway landing lights using autonomous vehicles. Most often the time-consuming job of clearing snow around landing lights has to be done manually because of the intricate maneouvres needed to avoid damaging the lighting systems. The trial project, which started this month, will be demonstrated in about a year’s time at Örnsköldsvik Airport, around 525km north of the Swedish capital Stockholm, accord
    Read More
  • Lintec & Linnhoff has a new plan for the Indian market
    May 4, 2021
    Lintec & Linnhoff has now ended its partnership agreement with Ardent Maschinenfabrik for the Indian market. Instead, Lintec & Linnhoff has new manufacturing plans for India and is planning to boost its facilities and resources in the country as demand continues to rise for its products.
    Read More

Highlighted Content