Technical, Economic, Legal, and Environmental Supervision of the Rehabilitation of the RN-7E road, Sumache El Estor Bridge Section

La Compañía Guatemalteca de Niquel (representada en su momento por el grupo accionario Skye Resources y luego Hudson Bay de Canadá) realizaron una importante inversión en la rehabilitación y construcción de la nueva planta en El Estor, la que supero los US$ 700 Millones. As part of this effort, an agreement was made with the Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing (CIV) to rehabilitate and improve the access road between Fronteras (Rio Dulce) and El Estor along 36 kms.

The first part consisted of the construction of a bypass to Fronteras and the improvement of the dirt road so that it can support the traffic of cargo trucks for the transport of heavy machinery to the new plant, and later the transport of Nickel’s trucks to the Port..

Detail of the SERVICES PROVIDED:

• The supervision services contracted to Gisystems consisted of: technical, administrative, economic, and environmental supervision of the construction works of the section, Sumach Bridge – Entrance to CGN Plant (36 kms.); Construction of the baden structure on the Sumach River, Construction of the CA-13 – RN-7E bypass and the design of the maintenance works of the RN-7E section Río Dulce – Sumach Bridge, the only paved section of 14 Kms. that existed in the project.
• These works were carried out as part of the agreement between the Guatemalan Nickel Company and the Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing.
• The supervisory work was extensive and diverse.
• The bypass of Fronteras was carried out on swampy soils where soil stabilization was required through improvement of the subsoil with rock and geosynthetics.
• The 14 kilometers from Fronteras to the Sumache bridge consisted of a surface treatment structure that had to be improved to support the passage of trucks.
• The 36 kilometers of dirt road from Sumach to the plant was an unpaved road with practically no structure in certain parts that also meant an engineering dilemma with important challenges in the construction phase.