Completion of Me Linh Point
in Vietnam

Kajima Overseas Asia Pte. Ltd. (KOA) has just completed the 25- month-long construction of the Me Linh Point, a 22-story office building with a four-level retail center and a two-level basement with a floor area of approximately 31,000 square meters, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This eye-catching building was designed by D-Exodus Architects & Planners Pte. and is located in the center of the city where the scenery still mirrors the image of French colonial times.

KOA was awarded this project in 1997 as a result of international bidding by Me Linh Point Ltd., a joint venture of Center Point Properties--which belongs to the beverage manufacturing giant F&N Group, of Singapore-- and a local company in Vietnam.

The excavation depth for this project (about 12 meters) was the deepest for any project in Ho Chi Minh City and was successful despite the weak ground and high water table due to the proximity of the Saigon River. It is common in Vietnam that construction projects are completed behind schedule due to such problems as obtaining permission from local authorities and customs clearance. However, KOA has completed this project on time and was acknowledged for its high quality and performance by the owner and the owner's consultants.

MRTA Groundbreaking Ceremony

Led by Kajima, the Metropolitan Rapid Transport Authority (MRTA) and Siam Nippon Metro Consortium JV (SNMC) signed a contract for the design and construction of a depot (contract No.3) on December 9, 1998. The date for the commencement of work was December 28, 1998, and the expected completion date is January 27, 2002.

On May 13, 1999, MRTA and SNMC celebrated the groundbreaking ceremony for the project in the presence of Air Chief Marshall Samboon Rahong, a minister attached to the Prime Minister's office.

The main MRTA site is located at Huay Khwang with a total area of 1,600,000 square meters. Approximately 432,000 square meters is allocated for the MRTA Initial System Project (ISP) depot and 72,000 square meters is allocated for the temporary work.

The ISP depot will provide facilities for all ISP railway operations conducted off the main railway, including operations control, management, administration, and maintenance. The depot will provide sufficient space to accommodate an initial fleet of approximately 100 cars and allow for future expansion to accommodate a possible maximum of 500 cars. The depot structure will consist of an elevated concrete platform and canal bridges to support ballasted trackwork.

Southern Tanzania Bridge
Completion Ceremony

On May 10, 1999, a ceremony was held to mark the completion of the southern Tanzania bridge project. Tanzanian President Benjamin William Mkapa and senior Tanzanian government members attended the ceremony along with Japanese Ambassador Keitaro Sato and, from Kajima, advisor to the board Akira Miyazaki and other Kajima personnel involved in the project, together with many local residents.

The project, carried out by Kajima and funded by a Japanese government grant, involved the construction of one 120-meter precast concrete bridge and three 30-meter precast concrete bridges together with more than 1,290 meters of access road.

Construction work began in April 1997 and--despite disruption caused by the worst flooding in the area for many decades--the bridges were completed on schedule, due to the great efforts of all those involved with the project. It is expected that the bridges will contribute to economic growth in southern Tanzania, an area which has lagged behind the rest of the country in development.

Two Luxurious Resort Hotels
in Egypt

Kajima has completed construction of two resort hotels in the suburbs of Hurghada, a Red Sea town that provides a distant view of the Arabian Peninsula. Hurghada is situated 400 kilometers south-southeast of Egypt's capital city, Cairo.

The hotels, the Robinson and the Sheraton, are both luxurious five-star accommodations with 300 rooms. Since the hotels are adjacent, an order was placed with Kajima for a joint construction project. The hotels are large-scale with a total floor space of 78,240 square meters.

As the construction site had no water and electricity supplies and no telephone connection, Kajima had to transport water purifiers and electricity generators--along with machinery, parts, and all raw materials other than aggregate--from long distances. Although such problems made this an extremely difficult project, the hotels were completed successfully thanks to the efforts of Kajima personnel and local employees.

New Equipment That Generates Electrical Power from Raw Garbage without Incineration

Kajima has developed a new technology that generates electricity from raw garbage without incineration. The process uses methane produced by fermenting raw garbage to generate electrical power from a fuel cell. If raw garbage is incinerated without proper equipment, poisonous dioxins may be emitted. Kajima's new process, however, emits no poisonous substances. The Company aims to have a raw-garbage-powered electrical generator available by next year, which it hopes to market to hotels, food processing plants, and other commercial operators.

The raw-garbage-powered electrical generator combines a fermentor and a fuel cell. Raw garbage is shredded, liquidized, and fed into the hermetically sealed fermentor. Inside the fermentor, a special microorganism decomposes the organic slurry to produce methane. A catalyst is used to convert the methane to hydrogen, which is then passed into the electric cell where it generates electrical power.

Vol. 9
Summer 1999

• CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF INNOVATION
  
• KAJIMA Around the World