Dominica Cable Car Project acquires helicopter to accelerate construction
The Dominica Cable Car Project’s custodians, ABL Holdings, have added a helicopter to the equipment inventory, enhancing the construction team’s capabilities significantly. The construction team has zeroed in on two locations which will serve as helipads for the craft.
The first location is at the mid-station, as it is being seen as a go between for the helicopter. The second location is at the top station, in the vicinity of Tower 18. The locations were picked by ABL Holding’s construction team, to ensure that the flight crew would have the best range of motion and reach, when it comes to accessing various parts of the construction site.
The stability of the helipad locations was also considered to ensure that they could sustain changing weather conditions and remain usable.
The construction team also went through with the installation of a staircase at the top station to allow individuals to make their way around the area with ease, this is due to the steep terrain which makes it extremely difficult for workers to simply walk around the top station area unaided. This task was completed on the 28th of February, despite the fact that incessant rain acted as a significant obstacle.
Besides these developments, the team continues to work on installation of the material ropeway towers, which happens to be one of the most significant tasks of the project at this particular juncture. For this very purpose, the helicopter is being used to carry prepared concrete to the multiple tower sites, thus allowing the team to pour concrete foundations with relative ease.
This is one of the reasons why two helipads have been prepared in different sections of the project. This allows the flight crew to arrive at certain sections of the site, having picked up material, individuals or equipment from the nearest helipad, adding to the convenience of having such a craft at their disposal.
The prepared concrete which is being transported via the helicopter is being used to pour foundations upon which the remaining material ropeway tower structures will be based. Thus, being able to airlift material of this sort has significantly accelerated the process for the construction team.
On the 29th of February, representatives of ABL Holdings confirmed that the construction of tower foundations at the top station had been completed and the team was in the process of beginning the installation of the tower itself, which would be a significant achievement when it comes construction at the top station specifically.
The team had also completed the installation of the aforementioned staircase, which now connects the top of the construction site to the tower anchors at the bottom. This allowed the team to move significant quantities of equipment and materials with relative ease, thus increasing working speed whilst also decreasing worker’s fatigue.
The team also managed to place rebar grids within the foundation holes before concrete is poured, which was an important task that got delayed previously because of heavy rain.
The construction team also appreciated the availability of the helicopter when it made use of the craft to pull a cable over several material ropeway towers through a winch. The entire mechanism is a prerequisite to the one which will carry cable cars up and down the site upon the completion of the project.
As of now though, the construction team is using a primitive version of the mechanism to ferry material along the construction site, giving it multiple options to carry material, equipment and workers as the project continues to progress.
According to sources within ABL Holdings, making use of the helicopter to pull and place the steel cable over the material ropeway towers was integral in readying the system for the operational period once the system has been tested and commissioned by the relative specialists.
Other significant updates from the construction site include the completion of Tower 9, Tower 16 and Tower 17. Other towers between Tower 1 and Tower 17 will be complete once the construction team has placed saddles over them.
The Top Station is going to become the team’s primary point of focus after that, as several tasks of great significance are to be completed there.
The general consensus is that the Cable Car Project continues to go from strength to strength in the capable hands of ABL Holdings and its construction team is making good time considering the preset timeline.
