Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.7, 2009

Operation and Maintenance System of Jamuna Multipurpose

D. Denni SUDIYONO Irwan PRASETYO Senior Expert Human Resource T&D Manager PT Jasa Marga (Persero) Tbk PT Jasa Marga (Persero) Tbk Toll Plaza Taman Mini Indonesia Indah Toll Plaza Taman Mini Indonesia Indah Jakarta 13550, Indonesia Jakarta 13550, Indonesia Fax: +62-21-8413540 Fax: +62-21-8413540 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Developing countries in Asia are starting to have sophisticated infrastructures. The infrastructure is usually financed by international agencies. As a consequence, these countries need large funding and knowledge to run and maintain those infrastructures. This paper discussed about the operation and maintenance of toll bridge called The Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge in Bangladesh. It is operated and maintained by appointed third party through international tender for every five years. Interestingly the bidder beside comes from developed countries such as Japan, also comes from developing countries like Malaysia, and Indonesia. At the second terms, Indonesian company with local partner has won the bid. Through this system, developing countries is starting to get their chances to be involved in having and maintaining highly modern infrastructures, cost efficiency. The trickle down effect of technology and economy is occuring from developed nations to the less developed ones.

Key Words: Bridge, River Training, Operation & Maintenance, Transfer of Knowledge

1. INTRODUCTION

Bangladesh inhabited by 145 million people (2007) is the densest country in the world, situated in the huge estuary where Gange River (Padma in Bangladesh) and Brahmaputera River (Jamuna in Bangladesh) merge, originated from Himalaya Mountains, and ended in the . The people of Bangladesh live acquaintedly with annual flood, where river transportation networks can reach 8.000 km. This country is known to have social, political and economic problems of corruption, delays in government decision making, great income disparity, insecurity, and periodic strikes.

Jamuna River with total length 2.200 km, is the widest river in the world, with 15 km width in monsoon and 5 km in off monsoon. Origin in Himalaya Mountains, passing through Tibet (China, called Tsang Po River), Assam (India, called Brahmaputera River) and Bangladesh. To show the potential of Jamuna River, table 1 present the Rank of Rivers in World based on average water discharge.

This mighty river changes its river channel from time to time, and creates river islands from India region, north of Bangladesh. Present route is resulted by catastrophic flood in 1787, major diversion is formed from original river (now Old Brahmaputera River).

To link eastern and northwestern parts in the country, in 1998 the government provides The Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge, the only fixed crossing of the Jamuna River. Figure 1. shows the map of the Bangladesh, the Jamuna river and the bridge.

 Figure 1. Map of Bangladesh, with Jamuna River, and Bridge Location

 Figure 2. Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge

Table 1 Largest Rivers in the World based on Water Discharge

Average discharge No River Countries (m3/s) 1 Amazon Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, 100.000 Venezuela, Bolivia 2 Congo Congo/Zaire 44.000 3 Orinoco Colombia, Venezuela 25.000 4 Yangtse Kiang China 22.000 5 Jamuna China, India, Bangladesh 19.250 6 La Plata / Parana Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia 19.000 7 Mississipi U.S.A 18.000 8 Yenissei Russia 17.000 9 Lena Russia 16.000 10 Zambesi Angola, Mozambique, Zambia 16.000 11 Mekong China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand 15.000 Cambodia and Vietnam

2. THE BRIDGE AND RIVER TRAINING

2.1 Background and History The bridge plan was already initiated from 1964 in the era, however the feasibility study was done later in 1977 by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Then, build and design contract of main bridge construction was done by Hyundai Corporation from South Korea, while the River training works was done by HAM-Van Oord ACZ, a joint venture from Netherland in 1994. It was officially open to traffic in June 1998. At that time the bridge held the 11th longest bridge record in the world. The bridge is approximately 110 km northwest of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.

2.2 The Bridge The Bridge with length 4.8 km, at present is still the longest bridge in , and is the only bridge that crosses Jamuna river in Bangladesh. The Bridge consists of two carriageways with two lanes each for transport, and the bridge also carries a (meter gauge and broad gauge) rail , a 750 kV electricity transmission line across the river, fiber optic telecommunications link, and gas pipe.

Other physical features of the Bridge are: length of at each side is 128 m, width is 18.5 m, Number of span 47 + 2 (99.375 m long), 4 Road Lanes, the Designed Load are for Single wheel vehicle: 10 tons, for Single axle vehicle: 30 tons, for Wagon axle load (train): 18 tons. Figure 2 & 3 are showing the bridge structure and superstructure.

O/H Power Line Power O/H MG Rail Road Road MG Rail Road Road

3.505 m 6.300 m 6.300 m 3.505 m 6.300 m 6.300 m

Gas Line Gas Line

m 3.25 m 6.50 18.50 m

Typical Standard Segment 18.50 m

Pier Stem

6.00 m

Pier Head Unit ( PHU )

 Figure 2 Bridge Superstructure

Cast in-situ Max Water Pier + 16 m Level Stem Precast Concrete Min Water + 6 m insitu filled Pile Cap Level Max Bed Level +/- 0 m Tubular Structural Steel Piles in-situ concrete filled 2.5 - 3.15 m dia Pile Length Min Bed Level - 30 m 83 m

Pile Toe Level - 72 m 2 Pile Pier 3 Pile Pier

 Figure 3 Bridge Structure

2.3 The River Training

However, the bridge is not the only structure that has interesting and challenging function in this project. The other structure is the river training work. It is a unique construction, and only found in Bangladesh throughout the world. It is aimed rigidly to direct river flow to constantly flowing under the bridge. As by nature river channel moves from time to time along river corridor to create meander, though it is far away (200 km) from Bay of Bengal. Near bridge site, the width of river varies from 5 km in the dry season to 12 km in the flood season. Figure 4 shows the location of the river training.

 Figure 4. The River Training of Jamuna Bridge

In addition to the width, the water level of the river also changes every month. Figure 5 shows the Annual Water Level of Jamuna River.

Figure 5. Annual Water Level at Jamuna Bridge

Extensive River Training Works are necessary to tame the mighty Jamuna River. Training the river, to ensure it would continue to flow under the bridge corridor was one of the most difficult technical challenges of the project and most costly of its components. The bases of the river training works are two guide bunds, one of each side of the river, to lead the river through the bridge corridor.

The bunds are constructed of geotextile fascine mattresses overlaying dredged soil slopes. They are covered by rocks and overlayed with open asphalt surfacing. There are 1.5 million tons of rock from Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, and Indonesia have been used to provide the coverage for the guide bund slopes. (see Figure 6).

To counter the considerable scour effects of the river protection works on the guide bunds extend to depth of 15 to 18 meter below mean sea level (msl), where falling apron has been provided. The additional rocks dumped in the falling apron should be able to cover the slopes in case of scour, which may go down to 30 meter below msl.

The large volume of material dredged to form the guide bunds has been used for reclamation works which provide flood free land for the bridge end facilities and for resettlement sites. Two totally new approach measuring 15.3 km and 14.4 km have also been built on the east and west banks respectively to link the bridge with the existing highway system

Figure 6. The 3D View of the River Training Work

3. THE OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE SYSTEM

3.1 The O&M Administration

The most important organization responsible to this bridge is called Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA). It was established in 1985 under Ministry of Communication, Government of Bangladesh, by the name of Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority. Later on it is expanded and change its name to BBA and the task is to manage toll , and other toll facilities, including other bridges in the country such as Paksey Bridge, Bhairab Bridge, Rhupsa Bridge, and Meghna Ghumti Bridge. BBA already provided major bridges over 1.500 m, established and managed toll roads, bypasses, and flyovers, and also controls and regulates vehicle’s users.

BBA’s concern with the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge does not end with its construction. Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of the bridge and associated works is a major tasks. Specific legislation has been passed by the government to ensure the smooth running of the bridge. This includes powers for BBA through its contractor to ensure and potentially hazardous accident or emergency situations can be swiftly dealt with. Security, police, fire, and medical facilities will be on hand at the bridge ends to provide a swift response and major parts of bridge will be constantly monitored by closed circuit television.

BBA appointed contractors to do the management through competitive bidding. In the operation of Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge, BBA has appointed Marga-Net One Ltd (MNOL). This company is a joint venture of Indonesian PT Jasa Marga (Persero) Tbk (JM) with Bangladesh local company, Net One Solution (NOS) . It is awarded as 2nd operation and maintenance (O&M) contractor from 2004 to 2009, with contract value around US $ 6.5 million. It is half than the contract value of 1st O&M operator in 1998, a joint venture with South African company. Monthly management fee is paid by the authority upon performance approval.

Indonesian JM deploys three key personnel as expatriates for operations director, chief engineer, and toll and finance manager. The local NOS provides four key local personnel: civil engineer, traffic and security manager, mechanical and electrical engineer, and software engineer. Total employees for the O&M are around 300 people (all male), in which half of them are security guards.

MNOL’s responsibilities are in : 1. Highway and bridge operation, including traffic safety and security and the Toll collection systems; 2. Operation of support facilities; 3. Supply of essential equipment and systems; 4. Inspection and maintenance of bridge

The scope of maintenance works covers the approach roads, bridge and approach viaducts, river training works, slope and retaining structures, lighting, building, including offices and houses, emergency equipments, landscaping, software maintenance, modification, and network systems, electrical and mechanical systems, and telecommunication.

3.2 The O&M System

3.2.1. Toll System The bridge is tolled, and charged to road users, as well as tariffs to be levied on the rail, gas, electricity, and telecommunication services using the bridge. The toll are forecasted to generate a significant amount of revenue. On the basis of forecast growth in traffic using the bridge, revenues will, within relatively short period of time, be sufficient to cover all running costs of the bridge and the loan interest and principal payments due on it.

Toll Operation Responsibilities of the operator are: Revenue collection, audit, and control, Weight bridge operation, CCTV monitoring of traffic, and Statistics records. Toll collection is based on semi-automatic toll equipment, where toll collector justifies its vehicle classification, and each vehicle image is captured through CCTV. Loop detector to measure traffic volume is also installed on each lane. Four toll booths are provided on each bridge end, toll plaza, operated by shift basis. Midnight to morning shift has the busiest traffic to serve.

Toll tariff is set up by considering: The general cost savings that would accrue to people using the bridge-basically the benefit of saving time. It is reasonable for part of those savings to be levied as a toll. The equivalent ferry costs. The level of income necessary to cover the operation and maintenance costs of the bridge, given the forecast of traffic use at various toll levels.

3.2.2 Traffic and Security Management For this reason, the operator carried out patrolling to cover 4.8 km of bridge and about 30 km of approach roads. There are two patrol vehicles from both side which are operated with 30 minutes interval. Rescuers, towing vehicle, and fire fighter vehicle are standby to give assistance at any time.

3.2.3 Physical Maintenance The bridge has design life of 100 years and with the level of maintenance being provided, it is likely the actual life of the bridge will be considerably longer than the design life.

Major items checked on bridge deck are bridge deck surfacing, expansion joints, drainage systems, concrete, nuts and bolts, weld, steel frame, paint works. The road furniture are also checked including concrete curbs, road marking, lighting column, traffic signal, signs, paint work, maintenance of sign board, accident damage, and maintenance of luminaries.

3.2.4 Important Issues

All concrete structures are subject to some cracking. Initially, cracks on the bridge deck have been carefully examined and appropriate action taken to deal with them. BBA sought the opinion of world experts to provide assurance that there would be no effect on the long-term structural integrity of the bridge.

Longitudinal (along bridge center line) hair cracks (maximum crack widt 1 mm) were significantly detected in March 2006. It becomes national issue, upon Minister of Communication’s visit to the site, it becomes electronic media issues for weeks. Since April 2008 an international reputable consultant has been working to provide technical advice to solve cracks issue, and other related structure defects. Special Committee was established to investigate the matter by the Minister of Communication (May 2006), and came up with conclusions that cracks on deck slab longitudinally are due to temperature stresses, which is not accounted in the design. If correct action were taken, cracks should not be a cause of major concern.

4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Based in this experience, operation and maintenance of modern infrastructure in developing countries undoubtly needs some transfer of knowledge from other experienced country. By contracting the O&M through international bidding is giving the chance to other more experienced countries to participate and share knowledge with the local partner, specifically in Standard Operation Procedure.

There is a tendency that relationship among developing nations is strengthening, because the knowledge they have received from the developed and modern countries is shared among themselves. This situation will mobilize local resources optimally and made the costs more efficient, while the O&M knowledge is trickling down to the less experience ones.

This O&M System of Infrastructure through international competitive bidding with local partner is a very good example to enhance the development of infrastructure and its O&M. The funding agencies can be made sure that the O&M can be implemented successfully with impact of transfer of skill and knowledge, and cost efficiency.

REFERENCES

Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, (1998) , The Making of The , Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority. Rendel Palmer & Tritton, Haskoning Bangladesh Consultants Ltd, (1999), Bangabandhu Bridge, Multipurpose Crossing in the Jamuna River, Bangladesh