Project of Development and Bitumination of Lome Bypass (Phase 1)

Effect picture of the Project

On October 8, 2011, Minister of Public constructions and Transports of Togo, Tchamdja Andjo,
visited the construction site of PROJECT OF DEVELOPMENT AND BITUMINATION OF LOME BYPASS (PHASE 1).
 

I. Basic Information of the project

Lomé is the capital of the Republic of Togo, and the transit trade through the Lomé port is one of the three pillar industries of the country. From the port in the southeast corner of Lomé City to the border between Togo and Ghana, the Road, through the eastern and northern parts of the city in the form of semi-circular, has connected the main national lines in Togo: RN2, RN34, RN1 and RN5. The execution of the project will significantly improve the transport capacity of Lomé Port and promote the domestic economic development in Togo.

Lomé Bypass is designed in accordance with the Class I highway of China with the width of the subgrade 23m,the carriageway 4x3.5m, the width of the hardened verge 2m, and the width of the sidewalk 1.5m. The pavement structure layers from top to bottom consist of the fine grained asphalt concrete of 5cm, the medium grained asphalt concrete of 8cm, the graded broken stone base of 12cm, and the subbase processed with sandy soil and cement of 30cm. The project is also composed of two medium bridges, drainage works, protection works, traffic safety works, and illumination works. The construction of the project is completed in two phases. The first phase is long of 14.1 km from Lomé Port to the RN1 which was completed in 2015.

II. Difficulties to be Solved During the Execution of Project

The quality control of the project adopts the Chinese standard and also the French standard. On the basis of the existing construction conditions, after the sufficient tests and analyses of the differences and difficulties between the Chinese Technological standardand the French standard, the project department reached an agreement with the project supervisors through active communications, that is, before the construction of every sub-project, the test section should be done according to the Chinese Technological standardand and be examined with the French standard by  project supervisors. The construction can not be continued before the verification. Practice has proved that this measure can not only ensure the quality of the project, but also solve the conflict between the two technical standards, which has been promoted in the follow-up projects.

It is designed to construct with lateritic gravel for the original pavement layers. After the official start of the project, through the investigation of the nearby, we found that, after perennial mining, there was few qualified materials around the project area which cannot meet the needs. For this reason, after repeated investigations and verifications, the engineerings in the project department decided to use the waste sandy soil near the phosphate zone as a substitute material. The pavement layers were adjusted to the subbase processed with sandy soil and cement, the graded broken stone base, and two asphalt concrete layers, which was an effective solution to the problem of insufficient material source. The successful attempt with sandy soil has also provided new materials for other construction companies in Togo, which has opened up new sources for the road constructions and protected the local ecological environment.

III. Local Employment Rate

During the execution of the project, more than 600 technicians and machinery operators were recruited and trained in the local area.