A Lintec CSD2500B containerised asphalt mixing plant played a central role in expanding a major road corridor in Bolivia between two of the country’s largest cities –Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. Bolivia has no railways and relies heavily on road transport, so expanding the ES28 section of Route 4 is vital to increasing business and community growth between the two cities.
The project is part of the worldwide Belt and Road initiative, a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government. Two major challenges prevented the completion of this project. First, asphalt production was ordered to begin at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, because the road passes around the spectacular Andes Mountain range, the asphalt needed to be top-quality to cope with an area prone to slippage, heavy rainfall, and landslides.
The ES28 project was deliberately started at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to get the job done with minimal disruption to businesses and communities. However, it presented a challenge for Lintec & Linnhoff as the company had to install and commission 100% remotely. Under normal circumstances, any new installation, such as the ES28 project, required engineers and technicians to be at the job site to guide the customer. However, onsite support was out of the question with airports and nations in lockdown because of the pandemic.
The Lintec CSD2500B’s fully containerised design enables faster and easier assembly and disassembly. In addition, Lintec & Linnhoff engineers and technicians provided 24/7 support via video calls, talking the customer’s technical team through the various stages of set-up and production. Just 30 days after arriving at the site, the Lintec CSD2500B was fully set-up and ready to produce its first batch of asphalt.
There was an ongoing demand for the plant to produce high-grade asphalt. This is because the geology of the ES28 expansion is complex. The mountain terrain features loose slopes, prone to occasional landslides or unsettlement caused by heavy rainfall. As a result, the customer specified a precise asphalt mix that needed to be consistent across the project. This proved no problem for the Lintec CSD2500B which offered fully automated production and consistently high quality across the 200,000 tonnes of asphalt it produced for the project.
Wang, Station Manager, said: “Lintec & Linnhoff’s engineers were available day and night and provided remote online guidance to help us complete the installation and commissioning. During construction, we had to cope with the disruption from the pandemic and keep Route 4 functional. At the same time, we adopted measures such as 24-hour rotational operations and simultaneous boring in both directions to ensure the project was completed on time. The Lintec CSD2500B played an important role in guaranteeing the supply of high-quality asphalt mixes throughout this challenging initiative.”
The expanded ES28 segment of Route 4 road is a double-layered road design of both standard and modified asphalt. Overall road width is 20.6 m, comprising two hard shoulders of 2 m each and one carriageway on each side measuring 7m.
Route 4 crosses Bolivia from east to west, over a total distance of 1,657 km from the Chilean border to the Brazilian border. It runs through the regions of Oruro, La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.
