IN GLOBAL terms, while Latin America’s 6.7 per cent market share of tunnelling activity is still dwarfed by that of Asia- Paci_ c, which accounts for a mighty 48.7 per cent, the industry is gaining real traction in many of the countries within the region.
Analysis by the Construction Intelligence Centre shows that the Latin American tunnelling and drilling equipment market was valued at USD 1.1bn in 2013, with Mexico accounting for the largest share at 46.9 per cent and Brazil, Colombia and Argentina following at 23.8 per cent, 19 per cent and 10.3 per cent respectively.
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The Latin American equipment market actually decreased somewhat between 2009-2013, with its compound annual growth rate shrinking by 0.37 per cent but is expected to bounce back and grow by 5.3 per cent between 2013-2018.
Huge investment is under way in the region, said Javier Vaca, director of business development at FCC Construction. "With support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Brazil has planned investment of USD 260bn, Colombia USD 43bn, Peru USD 13bn and Chile more than USD 9bn," he said.
"Projects such as high-speed and metropolitan railways, high-capacity urban and intercity highways, water supply systems, mining and power networks have all been identified across the continent," he continued. "There will be a huge demand for tunnelling expertise to provide complex underground solutions alongside traditional construction procedures."
By way of example Vaca cited the metro lines in Ecuador (Quito), Brazil (Sao Paulo), Colombia (Bogota) and Peru (Lima), as well as the La Línea highway tunnel connecting Colombia and Chile. The 8.6km tunnel is currently under construction and will be inaugurated in 2016.
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By GlobalDataAnother standout project for Vaca, along with the rest of the tunnelling community, is the proposed Bioceanico Aconcagua Corridor, widely considered to be a "game changer for South America" and "the region’s most important development in 100 years".
The project, which has the grand ambition of providing a link between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, will comprise a 204km electric railway from the city of Los Andes in Chile to Luján de Cuyo in Argentina.
This trans-Andean crossing will involve the construction of a 52km long, deep base tunnel that would be second in length to the Gotthard base tunnel in Switzerland. It will also include 29 side tunnels (10km).
Funding is still being sought for the estimated USD 3bn project and the IDB has been approached.
"There is a very clear interest in infrastructure that will build connections between countries and urban areas – anything that will increase the mobility of people and, ultimately, drive economies towards more growth," said Vaca.
"If these countries are able to make the tender process more dynamic and efficient and if they are able to realise some of the big projects in the pipeline, then the resulting connectivity and mobility for goods and people will blow the tops off many South American economies."
BRAZIL
Brazil is expected to see growth in demand for tunnelling and drilling equipment in the lead up to the 2016 Olympic Games, which take place in Rio. And the Brazilian government’s second Programa de Aceleraçeo do Crescimento (Growth Acceleration Plan) will also boost growth.
As Brazilian Tunnelling Committee president Hugo Cassio Rocha reported at last year’s World Tunnel Congress, the country is witnessing strong investment in its infrastructure, including more than 42km of tunnels currently under construction and 150km more on the near horizon.
Current infrastructure projects include the Mario Covas ring road around Sao Paulo. The 170km, two-carriageway highway features several tunnels, the most recent of which are three tunnels totalling 5,700m on the 43.5km eastern section. Construction of the 44km northern section started recently and will feature seven twin tunnels, totalling 13.2km.
Metro lines are high on the agenda in the country. The Sao Paulo Metro has been growing continuously over the last decade and work is ongoing on several different lines.
Line Five is under construction and will be completely underground. It will total 11.8km in length, of which 1.5km will be excavated using conventional Line Six of the Sao Paulo Metro went out to tender as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and construction should begin this year.
The line will total 15.3km in length and will connect the Brasilândia station in the north-west of the city, to Sao Joaquim station downtown. The tunnels will be excavated primarily using 10.5m diameter EPB TBMs although conventional excavation methods will be used on granitic rock sections and in the deeper stations.
The expansion of Green Line Two in the direction of the north-eastern part of the city will feature 15km of tunnels, constructed by two TBMs.
Looking further ahead, the Roberto Marinho urban tunnel is being planned to ease traffic in the southern part of the city. Two tunnels, each with three lanes, with a cross-section of 147m2 and 15.7m wide have been designed. They will be excavated in soft ground, predominantly stiff clays and sandy layers of the tertiary basin of Sao Paulo and sections of residual soil of pre-Cambrian gneiss.
In Rio de Janeiro, Line Four of the Metro is being realigned and will be 14km long – all underground – with six new stations. The tunnels between General Osório and Gávea stations through the densely built-up areas of Ipanema will be excavated using an 11.53m diameter EPB TBM. Meanwhile, in the sections of rock between Gávea station and Jardim Oceânico, the construction process is drill and blast. In other developments in the city, the Porto Maravilha Project will see the port area reintegrated into the city by demolishing viaducts and replacing them with tunnels.
Further afield, the Federal Government’s Ministry for National Integration is planning to improve access to water for 12 million inhabitants in the Agreste and Backland regions of the states of Pernambuco, Ceará Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte by integrating the Sao Francisco river with the water basins of the northern north-east region. Parts of the works are underground and will include the 19.5km Cunca I and II tunnels, which are currently under construction.
In the state of Minas Gerais, in the south-east of Brazil, a highway between Governador Valadaras and Belo Horizonte will call for four tunnels – two 450m-long parallel tunnels, one 650m-long tunnel and a 750m-long tunnel. The state capital is also planning to build a metro system.
Perhaps one of the largest infrastructure projects in Brazil is the TAV high-speed railway system, which will run between Campinas, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The proposed route will include 90.9km of tunnels in both rural and urban areas. The longest tunnels will be in the Serra das Araras mountains. "The figures show that Brazil is investing in infrastructure and that underground works are now definitively on the list of viable solutions for meeting the needs of Brazilian cities," said Rocha.
"Brazil is waking up to the fact that underground works are, for the most part, the most appropriate solution."
Mexico
High-speed rail projects also feature heavily in Mexico’s infrastructure development plans, driven by its Federal Government.
For example, the Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT) has two major high-speed rail projects on its books. One will run from Mexico City to Queretaro in the north, cutting a four-hour road journey to around 30 minutes by rail. The USD 4.5bn project will involve some tunnels, which will mainly be cut and cover, according to Roberto Gonzalez, general manager at the Robbins Mexico City office.
However, he added, the project has already hit problems, with the joint venture between Chinese and local contractors under intense scrutiny amid accusations of conflicts of interest and even bribery. The result is that the bidding process has to start over, with new bidders given a three-month deadline.
"It has created a lot of distrust in the bidding process, which is supposed to be transparent," says Gonzalez, adding that if this wasn’t addressed "other companies will lose faith in the system". The other high-speed rail project, which is already under way, runs from Mexico City to Toluca. It will include two parallel tunnels, approximately 7km long, which will cut through a mountain. Herrenknecht has supplied two TBMs for the tunnels, the excavation for each of which is around 9m diameter.
Probably the biggest infrastructure project for the SCT is the proposed new Mexico City "mega-airport", which was announced last September. Weighing in at USD 12bn, the 550,000m2 airport, designed by Foster & Partners, won’t actually feature any passenger foot or train tunnels but the entire structure will be serviced from below.
After a gap of about 20 years when there was little or no activity, the surge in tunnel construction – and particularly in mechanised tunnelling – in Mexico began in 2008 with Metro Line 12 in Mexico City. The extension to the 24km Line 12 is ongoing, although the 7km tunnel section was completed in 2012.
Robbins supplied the TBM, which at 10.2m diameter is the largest ever to have been used in Mexico and work was completed very quickly, sys Gonzalez. And, in fact, the tunnel section is the only part of Metro 12 that is currently open. Gonzalez reports that the Spanish manufactured trains have proved to be incompatible with the rails.
"The trains work in the tunnels because they don’t have such sharp turns, but the rest of it is closed. It’s a mess and there are some other metro projects [planned] but with this scandal everything has been stopped."
Having said that, however, Guadalajara is apparently considering building its first underground metro line. If it goes ahead it will pass under the city, including beneath the historic colonial area.
Less problematic perhaps, is the extensive work being taken by Conagua (National Water Commission) to improve the sewage system in Mexico City.
The 63km long tunnel was begun in 2009 and will be completed in 2018. The tunnel will run parallel to the existing 1960s one and will enable access for maintenance, with sewage flow (150m3/second) alternating between the two. The tunnel diameter is 7m and the excavation diameter is 8.9m and Robbins has supplied three TBMs for the project.
Conagua also has plans for a tunnel to ease pressure on the Dren General in the Valley of Mexico, which has flooded recently. Work should begin this year, initially on a 17km tunnel, with a 12km tunnel following in a second phase.
Projects are coming thick and fast from both the current administration, which was elected in 2013, and from private/ public joint ventures and confidence is high, particularly when it comes to mechanised tunnelling. Amitos, the Mexican Tunnelling Association has promoted the method and run courses on it and, said Gonzalez, engineers are "more open to mechanised tunnelling, particularly for shallow tunnels under the city".
A downside to the increase in activity in the country, he added, is competition from large international companies wanting a piece of the action. "Local contractors have to be more competitive and try to find a way to win bids," he said.
Colombia
Colombia has made significant advances in tunnel engineering and construction in the last decade, specifically with regards to tunnels for hydropower, highways and sewers, said Santiago Gutiérrez Ruiz, project manager at Ingetec. "This has led the country to be considered one of the pioneers in this discipline in Latin America," he said.
Ongoing projects include the aforementioned La Línea, which should be completed this year – although according to Gutiérrez the project has faced severe technical and financial issues and the contractor "has already exhausted all of the resources and run out of time according to the contract’s schedule".
Other work includes 22 tunnels on the road between Buga and Buenaventura (total length 8.8km); and 19 tunnels on the road between Bogota and Villavicencio.
Free trade agreements with North American, European and Asian countries, along with an increase in petroleum and mining activities have played their part in the economic growth of Colombia – trade that has spawned the need for a highways development programme cutting through the country’s three mountain ranges.
These so-called fourth generation (4D) highways, which will be built within the next 10 years, include more than 125km of tunnels, of which approximately 96km will be more than 2km long. Most are currently under tender for the final design and construction and work should begin in the next couple of years.
Two big hydropower projects have been successfully completed recently, said Gutiérrez. The Sogamoso Hydropower Project has an installed capacity of 820MW, includes big diameter tunnels, excavated in sedimentary rocks of the tertiary, and features an underground station with three caverns.
The Porce III Hydroelectric Project, which was completed in 2012, has a 660MW installed capacity and features a 12.5km long headrace tunnel with a 10.5m diameter and a large cavern.
Three more hydropower stations, with installed capacity between 400-2,400MW are being built, along with smaller stations (20-60MW) in the geologically complex Andes mountain range and will include large tunnels and underground caverns.
"Approximately 28km of tunnels for hydropower stations have been built recently and around 34km are currently under construction," said Gutiérrez. "Moreover, four deep underground caverns have been built in the last few years and five are under construction."
Improvements to the urban infrastructure in the future may include an underground subway system in Bogota. A 24km long subway line is under consideration, along with its second phase expansion up to 76km.
Sewer systems are also being developed, using the latest trenchless technology systems and specifically micro-tunnelling (pipe jacking), said Gutiérrez.
"The northern interceptor of the Medellin River, which is under construction, has applied this technology. It is around 8km long and has diameters between 2.2-2.4m." The Tunjuelo Bajo interceptor in Bogota is also under way. It is around 8.3km long and is between 2.4-2.75 in diameter.
While continuing economic growth in the country may be hard to predict, some aspects of Colombia’s economy have persuaded the tunnels sector that the level of work is sustainable, although it does have its detractors.
"There is a political appetite for big projects that can enhance Colombia’s economy and tunnels are usually included within those projects," said Gutiérrez. "However, there is great concern regarding the environmental and social impacts they may bring.
"Furthermore, as underground geological and geotechnical conditions are hard to predict in the region, these types of projects are usually accompanied by overspending and delays, which bring litigation. This brings political unrest among legislators who may see these issues as a threat towards successful project completion."
Chile
With the recent boom in commodities, Chile’s mining, energy and infrastructure sectors have seen significant investment, including in tunnels and underground projects, according to Alexandre Gomes, general manager at Geoconsult’s Santiago location.
While there has been a slowdown in construction in the country, the sector is expected to pick up this year and, in the medium term, transport infrastructure, including roads, railways and ports, is expected to maintain solid growth.
Construction is ongoing on new lines for the Santiago Metro. The USD 3bn project to build Lines Three and Six will feature around 37km of underground works, with 28 underground tunnels.
Meanwhile 9.3km of three-lane double tube urban road tunnels are under construction in the Américo Vespucio Oriente Highway project, while a further 4.3km are in review. The Ministry of Public Works (MOP) project, which is valued at USD 2bn, will complete Santiago’s ring road. Other road projects under way include the 12km Kennedy Road tunnel, also in Santiago.
Projects yet to start include, of course, the aforementioned Bioceanico Aconcagua Corridor, linking Chile and Argentina, but others are nearer to becoming a reality. The tender designs for both the Costanera Central urban highway and the second tube of the El Melón road tunnel are finished and the call for bidders is expected this year.
The energy sector should also see growth because the country needs a substantial boost to its capacity, said Gomes. Construction is ongoing at hydropower plants at Alto Maipo (98km of tunnels, shafts and caverns), Angostura, Los Cóndores and Nuble, while the Arandanos y Nido de Aquila project is at the design stage, with tenders for construction expected in 2016. More hydropower plants are pending approval.
The mining sector, which has been one of the most active industries of late, is expected to stabilise and recover, said Gomes. Codelco, the country’s National Copper Corporation is particularly busy at the moment. For example, 8.9km of access tunnels (two tubes) are being built at Codelco’s New Mine Level in a USD 600m project; 28km of tunnels and caverns are under construction at the company’s Nueva Andina mine in a USD 6.8bn project; and permanent infrastructure tunnels and works are being built at its Chugquicamata mine.
Peru
"The most important infrastructure project in the history of Peru," is how Javier Vaca describes the USD 4bn Lima Metro project, the construction of which started last August in a ceremony attended by President Ollanta Humala. The underground railway will transform the city, sections of which will be turned into green spaces. It will carry more than 600,000 passengers per day who will save up to 90 minutes on their commute. The project is being led by FCC and ACS and works on Line Two include construction of 35km of metro and 35 stations, which are to be completed in mid-2020.
A branch of Line Four, which will go to the airport, is also to be built and will consist of an 8km long tunnel and eight stations. The first phase, between Ate and Vía de Evitamiento will be finished in the second quarter of 2016 and the second phase, between Óvalo Bolognesi and the Vía de Evitamiento, is due for completion towards the end of 2017
