Construction of Ameria Caisson in Egypt

The Ameria Tunnel Pumping Station (ATPS) is the main pumping station of the Greater Cairo Wastewater Project. The objective of ATPS is to lift the wastewater for a vertical distance of 32.0 m (from the collection tunnel at approximate mean sea level (MSL) of −14.0 m, to box culverts at ground level, +18.0 m MSL) to continue the flow under gravity to the final treatment plant. The ATPS contains eight huge centrifugal pumps, each with a lifting capacity of 3,600 L/s. It is considered one of the highly technological civil engineering works in Egypt, probably the largest installation of its kind in the world. This paper outlines the construction method used to carry out various work elements of such a large civil engineering project. The problems encountered during construction (mainly due to the soil structure and characteristics), and the solutions innovated for these problems are also presented. A call is made for extensive soil investigation to minimize uncertainty and problems during future underground constructions.