By rosebell
October 2024 is the determined date for tender of the construction of Norway’s Stad ship tunnel.
As a fixed-price turnkey contract, procured through a competitive negotiation process, the Norwegian Coastal Administration (NDA) project will be tendered.
According to Project manager Terje Skjeppestad: The tender process was expected to take a year. A contract could be signed in autumn next year and construction start around the turn of 2025/2026. It is estimated construction will take just under five years, from the signing of the contract to final delivery. However, it is up to the contractor to plan this.”
Bids must fall within the total project budget of NOK5.060bn approved by the Norwegian parliament. If no bids are received within the approved budget, the new budget must be approved by parliament.
The tender issue was an important milestone in the project. Most of what we have worked on so far has been subprojects and actions leading up to the tender announcement. Since this type of tunnel has never been built before, the technical documentation has been demanding. Additionally, it has involved extensive and time-consuming work on planning processes, land acquisition, reuse of rock masses, and notably, efforts to reduce risk and costs in the project. This takes time, and I would argue that our project team has worked well and effectively since we were tasked with building the Stad ship tunnel in 2021,” said Skjeppestad.
As the world’s first full-scale tunnel for ships, the Stad ship tunnel provide a safe passage through the Stadhavet Sea and it is due to be 1.7km long, 50m high and 36m wide.
In order to building this tunnel conventional blasting method will be used and almost 3 million m3 of rock will be removed.
In April the Norwegian Coastal Administration appointed Cowi as the technical adviser for the construction of the tunnel.
