The own force construction department Ethiopian Electric Power revealed, the Bekoji 230 KV substation project encountered heavy rock accumulation that made excavation work challenging.

According to the site coordinator, Ato Endalkachew Jambo, the presence of heavy rock and black soil at the project site made the excavation work difficult and time-consuming, but it is being completed successfully.

The coordinator noted that although the project was planned to be completed 12 months, the heavy rock accumulation encountered at the site proved more challenging than anticipated.

Ato Endalkachew stated that the project is being completed within the set time limit, even though difficult excavation work is currently being carried out.

The commitment and team work shown to solve the problems encountered in the project exhibited the potential and strength of the institution, he added.

The civil engineer of the project, Surafel Siamregn, on his part mentioned that when the land survey and soil test was done to build the project, it was known that there is a rock that can be easily extracted.

However, at the beginning of the excavation work, it encountered a huge pile of rock that was larger than expected and up to 3 meters wide made the excavation work difficult, he revealed.

The engineer added that digging up to 1.4 meters for the foundation of civil and electro-mechanical equipments, but the depth of the rock is more than that, so that it takes a lot of energy to backfill and dig out the foundation.

The engineer pointed out that the area where the substation control room and switch yard are situated is plagued by deep black soil, which is another challenging problem.

Dagim Degefa, the project’s excavator operator, stated that he has never encountered excavation work as difficult in his 12-year career.