Ducab HV plant to be up and running by early 2011

Monday, Apr 12, 2010

The new Ducab HV Cable Systems facility being built on a 22 000 m² site in Jebel Ali, adjacent to the existing Ducab facility, will start producing its first high-voltage cable by early 2011, says CEO Jon Vail.

The total investment in the new facility is AED 500 million, including working capital. Ducab HV is a joint venture between Ducab, DEWA and ADWEA. The groundbreaking ceremony was held in November 2009.

Khansaheb is the main civils contractor and MACAir is the main MEP contractor. The piling contractor was Dutco Balfour Beatty, while the new facility was designed by Holfords, the architectural division of Hyder Consulting.

“From a construction point of view, the factory will be completed early next year, by the end of January. Khansaheb has agreed to a time-saving schedule for us to install the machinery in parallel. This will allow us to start installing machines probably by Q2 and Q3 this year. Some of the machines have arrived already, so we just need to get the foundation details sorted out on-site,” says Vail.

As for when the first cable will emerge from the new facility, Vail says: “I expect to be able to fully make and test cable from the new facility by Q1 next year.” The first step in this process is to get the insulation line running, which is critical in terms of the overall quality of the cable. “We have the advantage of being able to get conductor from the existing Ducab facility next door, run it through the new insulation line, make a cable and test it until that process is right.”

Source: Construction Week Online