Sikkim Airport Project wins UK award
London : Belfast-based geotechnical company Maccaferri has won an international award for its challenging work to construct reinforced soil walls and slopes at the new airport at Pakyong in Sikkim. The company, which completed the project with partners Mott MacDonald and Punj Lloyd, was given the 'International Project of the Year' award at the Ground Engineering Awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel here on Friday. Attended by nearly 400 leaders in consultancy and contracting in the geotechnical engineering industry, the awards brought together the key players in the industry, a press release on the event said. Maccaferri worked on the 31 million pounds project that featured a 550m wide, 1.7 km long corridor in which the runway and airport buildings are constructed for the Airports Authority of India.
The corridor was to be carved from the mountainous topography using massive geotechnical 'cut and fill' engineering works. Traditional retaining structures of the height required (74 m) would be prohibitively expensive and may not adequately cope with the seismic conditions. Conversely, shallow earthwork embankments would consume too much area. Therefore, extensive use of geogrid soil reinforcement and slope stabilisation was used to maximize the development area, the press release added. Main designer Mott Macdonald India and Delhi-based main contractor, Punj Lloyd, worked with Maccaferri's Indian subsidiary, Maccaferri Environmental Solutions Pvt Ltd to carry out the soil reinforcement and slope stabilisation works.
Matt Showan, International Marketing Manager for Maccaferri, said: "It is a testament to our teams in India and our project partners Mott MacDonald and Punj Lloyd that we have won today. At more than 70 m high, we believe this project to be amongst the tallest reinforced soil structures in the world and it's a symbol of Maccaferri's intent and rapid growth into this sector."