Brunei’s Temburong District, with rolling hills, lush vegetation and babbling streams, is home to vast swaths of pristine rainforest and wealthy varieties of rare animals and plants. Even on this country where three-quarters of the land is roofed by forest, this area stands out and is named “Brunei’s green jewel”.
The forests are protected in Ulu Temburong National Park. “Ulu” – which implies “far” in Malay – is acceptable for the realm as an exclave separate from the remainder of Brunei. Traveling to this district was once a tiring experience, but it is going to soon change that permanently as you cross the ocean on the Temburong Bridge, which spans Brunei Bay and connects it to the Brunei-Muara district. The most difficult a part of construction is the CC4 section, which was commissioned to China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC).
Equipment within the air
Deep within the rainforest, a dozen crawler cranes were working on a construction site above pristine swamps. Their shiny yellow color created a striking contrast against the green background of the leaves. It was throughout the crossing of the pristine marshes that the CC4 section became often known as essentially the most difficult section of all the sea bridge project, each technologically and operationally. This has discouraged many teams before.
To minimize the impact on the environment, British standards were adopted in the development of the Temburong Bridge. All construction plans were implemented under the Bruneian Government’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIV), which incorporates stringent environmental regulations. Based on this, CSCEC developed its own green construction rating system and developed an “elevated” construction method during which all pillar and beam work was performed on a mobile steel platform. This way, no equipment got here into contact with the rainforest or swamp, and the bridge was essentially built on top of one other bridge.
All the prefabricated elements of the project were manufactured in China, shipped to Brunei and assembled on site like a set of constructing blocks. This allowed CSCEC not only to make use of the space on the development site more efficiently and flexibly, but in addition spared the forest from dust and sludge often generated during concrete works.
“It is unbelievable that such an almost unattainable project is definitely happening,” said Suhaimi Gafar, Brunei’s development minister, during his visit to the viaduct construction site.
No disruption to the monkeys’ rest
To minimize the impact on nature, CSCEC also established a team of eight environmental experts led by Huang Lin, a graduate of Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Huang said the place to begin of all environmental protection is the understanding that every one construction activities in forests are inherently human interference with wildlife habitats.
The Temburong primeval forest is home to a big selection of wildlife, essentially the most common of that are birds, snakes, crocodiles, monkeys and frogs. To make sure the undisturbed peace and quiet of the wildlife, the environmental team provided rigorous training to all employees entering the positioning and even required noise levels to be kept at standard levels in order to not affect the monkeys’ rest and sleep.
Under Bruneia’s environmental law, it is unlawful to harm animals in forests. Any witness of the looks of an animal on the development site or within the team’s field camp should be reported to the authorities. According to construction employees, snakes and snakes were essentially the most frequent visitors, making stops every so often. Under these circumstances, employees waited patiently to depart and the CSCEC team reported to the federal government immediately after each meeting.
Plant protection also left no room for laziness. Bruneii forest authorities reported any topsoil removal beyond a 50-meter radius of bridge construction or equipment damage to trees. According to Sabuja Howlader, a Bangladeshi supervisor, employees were fully informed in regards to the importance of keeping the forests intact and unpolluted. Even breaking a branch can lead to financial compensation.
From a bird’s eye view, the Temburong Bridge looks like a silver ribbon sliding across a shocking green gem. With the opening of the ocean bridge, the green jewel will probably be fully integrated into the event of Brunei with a fair brighter future.
