A consortium led by Shimizu Corp. completed excavation of Pahang Selangor Raw Water Tunnel in Malaysia, the longest tunnel in Southeast Asia. Some 200 officials of Malaysia and Japan attended the ceremony on February 19. The 44.6km tunnel of 5.2m diameter, excavated by tunnel boring machines and New Austrian Tunneling Method, will transfer 1.9 million m3 water per day from the source in Pahang to Selangor, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur. This attention-drawing project, one of the largest infrastructures in Asia will address the future water shortage in the capital.

The group including Nishimatsu Construction Co. and two local construction firms overcame many troubles during the work such as sudden water spouts, TBMs failures, and severe work condition due to high temperature of rocks. (2014/02/20)