Construction Projects Category is for the best construction projects in which Japanese companies are participating outside Japan. For the 3rd Japan Construction International Award, projects completed after April 1, 2013 by March 31, 2018 are subject to the award.

Waterview Connection Tunnels and Great North Road Interchange Project (New Zealand)

Overview:

• One of the largest transport infrastructure project in New Zealand: 2400m twin shield tunnels connected missing link in the circular highway in Auckland. This project has eased traffic congestion and improved airport access, with over 60,000 daily traffic.
• New Zealand’s first large section shield tunnel (14.5m of bored diameter)
• Adopting alliance contract where the owner, designers and contractors join the alliance to execute the project and Obayashi participated in critical decision-makings as well as tunnel design, construction management and risk management of tunneling. 

Key points:

• To minimize Life-cycle cost, The tender is assessed by combination of two bids,  design & build of highway and 10 years operation and maintenance. The awarded party executes two contracts under alliance. It enhanced Japanese business's capability for public-private collaborated partnership.
• Stakeholder management has been well addressed such as protection of natives’s relic, Maori art element at tunnel portal, pedestrian bridge  designed reflecting local voices and construction of various facilities to provide local community for entertaining.
• Experience of large diameter EPB Shield tunnel under shallow overburden allows to change tunnel design from conventional SEM planned as original to precast lined TBM. 2500t TBM made a U-turn after the first tunnel without dismantle/reassembly in order to reduce construction period and cost, which is also one of examples to utilize application in Japan .

Osman Gazi Bridge (Izmit Bay Bridge) Project (Turkey)

Overview

• Construction of the bridge crossing Izmit Bay in the motorway from Istanbul to Izmir (third largest city in Turkey). It is the first highway with a  BOT (build-operate-transfer) scheme in the country.
• Contribution to the development of the south-western part of Turkey: trans-bay travelling time was shortened from 1 hour (by ferry) or 1.5 hours (by land) to only 6 min by crossing the bridge, and total travelling time from 9 hours to 4.5 hours with 420km of the new highway.
• Global record of construction speed for a long suspension bridge: the bridge, with a total length of 2,682m and a center span of 1,550m (the 4th longest in the world) was completed in only 48 months.

Key points

• Life-cycle cost reduction: bridge dehumidification equipment, electric corrosion protection, using stainless steel to splashing zone, early recognition of abnormality by 24h remote monitoring in the operation in order to prolong bridge’s lifespan. Making tailor-made design standard in accordance with the performance requirement realized cost-minimum.
• World’s first bridge features: aseismic base isolation system of the main tower as a counter-earthquake measure, active vibration control device used in the bridge operation as a counter-wind measure.
• Various business contribution including adaptation to the business with private procuring entity in the BOT model to succeed the project.

Sindhuli Road (Construction of Section III Phase 2 and Slope protection of Section II) (Nepal)

Overview

• Section III Phase II is the last part of a 160 km long mountainous road construction connecting Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, with Indian border funded by Japanese Governments’ Grant. Slope protection was implemented as remedy to the collapsed slope caused by heavy rain.
• Accelerated work in spite of the socio-political difficulties: one month delay caused by political turmoil and other problems such as local sabotage was fixed with efforts including dividing working sections and additional deployment of equipment and workers.

• Technology transfer from Japan for disaster prevention on road: Japan’s well proven technologies have supported the sustainable development of Nepal, where 80% of the land is mountainous.

Key points

• Resiliency proved by the Gorkha Earthquake on April 25, 2015 (magnitude 7.8): despite unfavorable geotechnical condition, this road maintained traffic due to the design with high durability against natural disasters while many other major routes were disconnected. People appreciated this road as a major route for relief goods transport.
• Maximum social consideration measures were adopted in the response to local residents’ demanding activities and relocation issue. Applicant maintained thoughtful consultations with local politicians and government officials even in the politically and socially chaotic situation. Affected residents with no-experience were hired as construction workers which the applicant supported by systematic safety management.
• The officer in charge from Nepal Government appreciated the technologies transferred from Japan such as slope stabilization and retaining wall as technologies which should be utilized for future road construction in the country.

Small and Medium-sized Construction Companies Category is for the Japanese leading Small and Medium-Seized Enterprises (SMEs) in construction industry operating world wide.

GIKEN SEKO CO., LTD.

• In 1983, GIKEN SEKO exhibited “Silent Piler”, a press-in method machine developed in-house, at the exhibition in Germany. Because the features of the machine were evaluated at that time, GIKEN SEKO received an order which is the first construction overseas in the same year. Since then, GIKEN SEKO has developed business with the press-in method in more than 30 countries.
• GIKEN SEKO conducts employee training before assigns them abroad. In the training, all of them thoroughly learn how to respond to emergencies such as disasters. This training have led to solid risk management.
• In 2019, Press-in Method Training Center was established in Japan. GIKEN SEKO is going to accept trainees from domestic and foreign at this facility, and transfer technologies such as repairing, maintenance and operation of the press-in machine to them.

Silent Piler

Construction in Senegal

Press-in Method Training Center

Helios Holding Co., Ltd.

• To solve the over-consumption of city gas in Bangladesh, the company introduced pre-paid gas meter to the country. The company is working on the installation of total 260 thousand meters under the JICA’s proposal-based pilot project and Yen Loan project.
• The company briefed Bangladesh’s gas supplier on the benefit of the Japanese gas meter. In the bidding process, high evaluation on the Japanese gas meter’s quality was the key factor to win the contract.
• Prepaid meter system is customized to accommodate local market condition. For example, IC card and/or mobile payment could be used as the payment system.

Pre-paid gas meter and installation in Bangladesh

Local workers in Bangladesh