By The Hiwa-i-te-Rangi TBM was assembled in Herrenknecht factory in Schwanau, Germany over a ten month period and was finally arrived in Auckland, New Zealand after a month-long journey. The machine will start to excavate Watercare’s 14.7km Central Interceptor wastewater tunnel in early 2021.
The project’s worth is US$840m and is going to run from Western Springs to the Mangere Wastewater Treatment Plant. It is designed to decrease wastewater overflows throughout the wet weather by 80% – to the benefit of local beaches, waterways and harbors.
27 trucks transported the 5.4m-diameter TBM’s parts from Ports of Auckland to the Mangere plant from where the machine is going to be launched by Mayor Phil Goff for the five-year tunneling operation.
At the moment, multiple Central Interceptor construction sites are in progress. Works at May Road (Mt Roskill) and Mangere shaft sites are the most advanced ones. At Mangere, boring of the 38m-deep main shaft, wet well, and 32m-deep inlet shaft are done, with the concrete base slab at the bottom of both shafts now being installed. Further sites along the tunnel route will start in 2021.
Because of the Hiwa-i-te-Rangi’s size, it will not be completely assembled by Herrenknecht and contractor Ghella Abergeldie JV until it is launched underground in early 2021.
