EA Piling was selected by Sinohydro Ltd. to install a total of 120 rotary bored piles for pylon foundations along the Karuma-Lira transmission line.

This project forms part of the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company’s (UETCL) ongoing programme of rural electrification and upgrading Uganda’s electrical infrastructure. EA Piling successfully completed the project on time whilst maintaining the highest levels of quality in execution.

Unlike traditional civil engineering or building structures, electricity pylon foundations do not experience significant vertical loading. Instead, the most significant loads transferred to transmission line foundations are tensile and lateral forces. This is due to wind loads being applied to the pylon and the inter-spanning electrical cables which, in turn, transfers lateral and tensile forces to the underlying piled foundations.

As a result of these loads, large diameter bored piles were required in order to provide the transmission line a stable founding into the ground.

The principal challenges faced were related to the remote location of the project and the waterlogged soils present on site. The groundwater level at the majority of pylon locations was either at, or very close to, the ground surface. As a result of this, extra care was taken to construct a piling platform strong enough to bear the weight of the R620 piling rig and all of the other machinery on site. The piling platform also needed to be well drained and sufficiently above the groundwater level.

Due to the waterlogged soils, all of the piles needed to be fully cased in order to prevent the augured holes from collapsing. This required importing 1000mm and 1400mm diameter casings into the country. EAP managed to mobilise all the necessary machinery and tools to site in good time to commence works on site. This has improved EAP’s capacity to execute large diameter bored piles up to 1400mm and in excess of 25m depth.

Having successfully completed another significant piling project, EAP is proud to be a part of building Uganda’s infrastructure for generations to come.