NEC's achievements

THE flagship construction wing of the Vizag-based Navayuga Group, Navayuga Engineering Company (NEC), has several feathers of achievement on its cap, the latest being the Rs.110-crore road bridge across the Gauthmi river in East Godavari district, connecting the fertile central delta with the equally resourceful and industrially developing eastern delta. The "GMC Balayogi Varadhi", which links Yedurulanka with Yanam, forming part of National Highway-214, was declared open on October 1 and dedicated to the nation in memory of Balayogi, the late Speaker of the Lok Sabha who was instrumental in getting the bridge sanctioned.

NEC completed the construction of the 1,800-metre-long bridge, as well as 10 km of approach roads on either side, two and a half months ahead of schedule. "It was indeed a challenge to our company to perform this arduous task on BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis. But for the intervening rainy seasons, we would have executed the project much earlier,'' says NEC's executive director G.V.D.M. Rao.

``As the river is perennial at the location of the bridge with water depths ranging from three to 15 metres and subject to tidal variations, we had to undertake the job using a floating craft. We used a heavy-duty rig imported from Germany and deployed it on a 400-tonne jack-up barge for purposes of piling. PSC girders were erected on the bridge alignment with the help of a specially designed erection barge fitted with a hydraulic lift,'' he recalls.

A unique feature of this bridge, which cuts short the distance between the district headquarters Kakinada and Amalapuram by 50 km, is that it has an in-built provision for conveying the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's pipelines, connecting Pasarlapudi and Kakinada, underneath the bridge, besides facilitating the movement of the equipment of Gas Authority of India Limited, which has some major expansion plans for the region following the discovery that natural gas is available here on a large scale.

Another recent achievement of NEC was the construction of an intake well in the Bay of Bengal off Parawada for the Simhadri Power Station of the National Thermal Power Corporation which is using, for the first time in the country, seawater for cooling purposes. "This well, with a diameter of 23 metres, and dug to a depth of 37 m, is the largest structure built in the open sea in the country,'' claims G.V.D.M. Rao. "A steel caisson was fabricated for the purpose at the Hindustan Shipyard and towed 30 km in the open sea to reach the location.''

NEC has a reputation for constructing marine structures such as breakwaters, shore protection and port berths and jetties, besides industrial structures such as underground pumping stations, large-span hangars, RCC (Reinforced Cement Concrete) bunkers, navigational towers and radar-testing platforms. The company also undertakes turn-key projects comprising design, detailed engineering and construction.