Hengqin urban utility tunnel commended for quality

The underground utility tunnel in urban Hengqin New Area became the first of its kind to win the China Construction Engineering Luban Prize, the top honor in the country's building industry, according to the area’s Administrative Committee.

The first pile was driven on North Ring Road in May 2010, and the main structure topped off in November 2013. Costing 2.2 billion yuan ($332 million), the 33.4-km project is China's first systematic integrated utility tunnel to be built in the soft soil of a flood plain.

Running along arterial roads, the utility tunnel is shaped like the Chinese character "日, rì meaning sun or day," and has three sections varying from one compartment to three. Each of the roads North Ring, North Zhongxin and South Zhongxin has a control center to supervise the utility tunnel when the latter serves the entire area.

Integrating water and power supplies, communications, condensate water, reclaimed water, and garbage vacuum tubes, the system is also equipped with a computer network, automation, video surveillance, and fire alarm systems. Thereby, it conducts remote and intelligent monitoring, automatic drainage, intelligent ventilation, and firefighting.

Hengqin utility tunnel [Photo by Li Jianshu / Zhuhai Daily]

Founded in 1987, the Luban Prize formerly was a civilian award initiated by the original China Architecture League to encourage companies to improve construction quality. It was handed over to the China Construction Industry Association in 1993 and merged into a National High-Quality Engineering Award by the Ministry of Housing & Urban-Rural Development in 1996.

Stages in the selection procedure include self-declaration; recommendations by construction industry associations at the provincial, autonomous region, or municipal levels; and selection by the China Construction Industry Association. Each year, the prize recognizes up to 80 projects in terms of public facilities, industry, transport, water conservancy, housing and municipal engineering, and gardening.

With the award as a starting point, the construction and operation team will continue their research and innovation in programing, planning and design, construction and installation, monitoring, and operation, asserted a project head.