Section E of the World's Largest Monomer Reservoir Realizes External Water Supply

“Pump speed to 50%, 80%, 100%. All parameters are normal.”

On July 10 Qatar time, Section E of Water Supply Project in Qatar successfully supplied water to northern Umm Said, the country’s industrial town, after over 1,600 days of hard work, satisfying the water demands of numerous plants and tens of thousands of households there. Stable operation of pump sets made everyone on the site excited.

All Systems of the Water Supply Project Operate Normally

Section E of the world’s largest monomer reservoir won by a Chinese enterprise

There is a large water conservancy project under construction in the heartland of desert about 70 kilometers south from Doha, Capital of Qatar, which sets such functions as sea water desalination, water storage and water supply in one. Located in the tropical desert, Qatar features dry weather, less rainfall and extremely scarce fresh water, with all its fresh water coming from sea water desalination. As the economy rapidly develops, some industries and port areas usher in greater demand for fresh water, which cannot be satisfied by existing water systems.

In 2015, the Water Supply Project in Qatar was formally commenced as an important strategic project for the improvement of people’s livelihood. Comprising sea water desalination, storage, transportation and other works, the Project will meet Qatar’s seven-day water consumption and satisfy the water use of 2022 FIFA World Cup after completion.

CGGC under CEEC is the only Chinese enterprise among the contractors of five reservoir sections and the project undertaken by CGGC mainly comprises two reservoirs, a boosting pump station and bypass pipelines. Each reservoir has the capacity of 500,000 cubic meters, being the world’s largest monomer reservoir after completion, according to Wang Shaohua, Project Manager of Section E of the Water Supply Project in Qatar.

China’s Solutions to Tackle Challenges in Construction

CGGC won such an important project in Qatar, a quasi-high-end market, with its world-leading technological levels and rich construction experience.

Located in the Middle East, Qatar enjoys a tropical desert climate and features high temperature, dry weather dusty atmosphere and strong sunshine. Such an extreme natural environment makes it impossible to achieve the goal through traditional construction techniques, raising great challenge for the contractor in its technologies for super-large reservoir construction.

At present, there are not yet enough and mature researches on bottom construction blocks of super-large reservoir throughout the world. The project department optimized the block size stipulated in initial bidding design by referring to international technical clauses, prevailing specifications and experience in construction of the large-scale reservoir of the Subyia Water Distribution in Kuwait. After repeated modeling and calculation, the block size is adjusted from 7.2m × 6.225m to 14.4m × 12.45m and the optimization result is checked in combination with existing resources of the project department, effectively avoiding such shortcomings as increased construction joints, complex construction process, time-consuming and large leakage due to small block size. Finally, the project was successfully accepted by Kahramaa, with the help of the world-famous consulting company AECOM, accumulated valuable experience for bottom block construction of super-large reservoir in the world.

During construction, the project department successfully overcame the influence of high-temperature and dry environment on concrete construction, tackled the challenge in mixing ratio for ultra-high thin wall concrete construction, and ensured the smooth implementation by optimizing the movable scaffold design.

Third Party Cooperation for Mutual Benefits

The engineering market in the Middle East has always been known for its high standards and strict requirements. As required by the owner, we must apply the European and American standards for the Project, which raise rigorous requirements for engineering design, construction and management.

For better design, construction and management, the project department introduced external resources from the third party for self-improvement. In design, the project department sought active cooperation with AECOM with international influence in contract and design coordination and management. In risk management, the project department partnered with Lalive Law Firm from Qatar and engaged the latter to offer legal consulting services in local contract procurement and other related businesses.

In the meantime, the project department also proactively coordinated with over 10 partners involved in its machinery system, power system, automation system and other systems, including KUBOTA from Japan, GE from the United States and Siemens from Germany, and worked closely with water supply, power supply, commissioning and operation departments of Kahramaa for system commissioning and acceptance, successfully realizing the goal of external water supply.

“As dispatched by Kahramaa, the project department has also made overall arrangement to further guarantee the safe and stable water use of industrial and household users of the entire country in addition to satisfying the water demands of Umm Said”, according to Xu Hanping, CPC General Party Secretary and Executive Vice General Manager of the Project.