Greve d'Azette JEC works

1240/5(8433)

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND RESOURCES BY DEPUTY G.C.L. BAUDAINS OF ST. CLEMENT

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 14th JULY 2014

Question

With regard to the JEC cable laying through St Clement, would the Minister, as the shareholder representative, advise –

1. how long Green Road will have been closed by the time the job is completed;
2. whether the 8 week partial second closure of Greve d'Azette to enable the cable to be pulled through the conduit will be exceeded;
3. why the cable jointing trenches were not created during the conduit-laying part of the exercise;
4. why other sections of road are being dug up to reach conduit bends; and,
5. what guarantees, if any, can be given that the cables can, in fact, be pulled through the conduits and, if so, when will this happen?

Answer

The road works in the St Clement area form an integral part of the £70m Normandie 3 project to install a third interconnector to mainland Europe. The project is a key part of Jersey Electricity's 10 year investment programme in its strategic infrastructure and will enable the company to access more secure, more affordable and more sustainable electricity from the European Grid over the next 35 years. The work has been planned years in advance in close liaison with Transport and Technical Services (TTS) and Parish authorities who manage access to the roads and coordinate closures and diversions with all other utilities. The cable installation is by means of pre-installed ducts which allow greater flexibility in road closures and reduce the impact of the work in comparison to traditional open-cut' methods where up to 500m of trench is required to be excavated in stages and remain open while cables are pulled in.

1. A partial closure commenced on 10 June with a full closure from 16 June. The works are expected to be complete by 18 July (i.e. a closure of less than 5 weeks). Access to premises has been maintained throughout.
2. The partial closure of Greve d'Azette is expected to last 10 weeks.
3. It is common practice to install ducts first, then excavate the joint bays and complete the joints as cable sections are installed. With a duct installation program lasting 15 months there is no benefit to excavating joint bays in advance as they would need to be reinstated and then re-excavated prolonging the work and disruption and increasing the cost.
4. The duct section in question, between La Blinerie and Greve D'Azette, is the most challenging of the 6 sections on the installation. Ideally duct installations should be kept as straight as possible to reduce friction when cables are pulled through. A number of factors have introduced deviations from the planned route. These have included the high volume of existing services in the roads, requests by TTS to consider alternatives to digging through Plat Douet Road (which is viewed as a high traffic' road), and suspension of works at St Clements Road traffic lights by TTS and a resumption during winter months when the water table was very high. As a consequence additional excavations have been required to facilitate the cable installation.
5. Cable installation on this section is expected to be complete by 18 July. Work will continue on cable installation between Greve D'Azette and South Hill until early August.