Historic win for Bouygues in Azerbaijan

Bouygues Construction has signed its first civil engineering contract in Azerbaijan. Its subsidiary Bouygues Travaux Publics will carry out the € 147 million (US$ 184 million) contract to separate the red and green lines of the Baku metro system at the 28 May station. The two lines currently share the same platform.

Bouygues Travaux Publics will construct two caverns at a depth of 25 m around the existing tubes, which will make it possible to build the new tunnels. Operation of the metro is only expected to be s interrupted for five weeks of the 36-month construction project.

The project forms part of the Azerbaijani capital’s mass transit extension plan, which will see an expansion and upgrading of the metro with completion expected in 2030.

Work is scheduled to begin in February 2015, and will involve 250 people at peak periods. Bouygues said the teams will face a technical challenge, because the tunnels are situated in a dense urban environment and in difficult geological environment. Jet grouting and ground freezing are expected to be used to help address these challenges.

Philippe Bonnave, deputy chief executive of Bouygues Construction, said, “We are proud that our client, Baku Metropolitan, has shown such confidence in us and we trust that this augurs well for further collaboration between us in the future. This project will provide the residents of Baku with a better quality of service and greater frequency of trains.”