By Ashley Karen
As per Robbins’ company report, on October 14, China Overseas Engineering Group Co. Ltd and China Railway N. 2 Engineering Group Co Ltd launched a 6.4 m diameter Robbins Double Shield tunnel boring machine.
The machine is going to excavate the 13.1 km headrace tunnel for the Sunkoshi Marin Diversion Multipurpose Project (SMDMP) placed in Sindhuli and Ramechhap districts, which are nearly 120 km southeast of Kathmandu on BP Highway, Nepal.
The tunnel – linked to a new 28.62 MW surface powerhouse on the Marin River to reduce the shortage of power supply in the area, is going to be used also for farmlands irrigation in the districts of Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rauthat and Bara in the Terai Plain, diverting water from the Sunkoshi River to the Marin River.
The tunnel is the TBM’s second work: on its 12.2km first tunnel (the Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project), the machine finished almost one year early and achieved a 1,202 m advance in one month.
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