1999 – Construction of the Balambano Dam, Indonesia

Andrew Day, Rod Bridges and Corrado Fabbri

A joint venture between Astaldi SpA of Italy and Thiess Contractors Pty Ltd of Australia (ATJO) has just completed a 95m high roller compacted concrete (RCC) dam on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. The dam which includes 528,000m’ of RCC was completed in September 1999 and will provide hydro-electric power for a nearby nickel smelting operation.

One of the largest RCC dams built in the region in recent times, the construction presented a number of unique challenges in particular placing techniques to cope with the heavy rainfall in the area as well the logistics to this remote location. Other aspects which are addressed in the paper include production rates, RCC placing systems (Rotec), dam formwork systems, aggregate sources, RCC mixes and waterproofing (membrane).

After early problems with the river diversion, the works were accelerated and completed to a very tight program. To enable dam construction to commence prior to river diversion the wall was advanced as a series of separate monoliths which led to a number of RCC placing innovations.

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