Nehemiah Group thrives on girder business

WHILE the COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on the construction industry, one company is still able to pull through until at least the final quarter of 2021.

Nehemiah Group’s chairman, Tan Cheng Chong said the company’s newly launched BH Girder business alone is capable to contribute at least RM80 mil to the group’s turnover for the period of 2019-2021.

Tan Cheng Chong

“The Setiawangsa-Pantai Expressway (SPE) project by Ekovest Bhd started in 2019, and it is expected to be completed by end of next year,” Tan, who is also the Nehemiah Towoong Bridgetech Sdn Bhd executive director, told Focus Malaysia. “We have other on-going projects since the BH Girder was launched last year.”

Ekovest Bhd is the first biggest adopter of the South Korean-Malaysian innovation with an order of 424 such girders for the SPE project.

Its managing director Tan Sri Lim Keng Cheng posted on social media that on Nov 22, the country’s BH Girder was successful launched onto a double deck bridge structure at Section 3 of the expressway.

By large, this is a “record break feat” by both Ekovest and Nehemiah Towoong Bridgetech, a subsidiary of the Nehemiah Group.

“The BH Girder is 60 meters long compared to the conventional beams that are only 40 meters long,” Tan said at a recent media conference.

“This will give a savings of up to 30% compared to the shorter beams. For every 240-span bridge, it would only need four spans instead of six if we use the 60-metre BH Girders instead of the 40-metre long conventional beams.”

According to Tan, the clients save a lot on the piers that are required to support the bridge. “The technology will allow the major contractors to complete their projects much faster and look for newer projects,” he pointed out.

Although the original design in South Korea was a 60-meter BH-type girder when it was first developed, the technology had to be customized to suit the local conditions to enable transportation of three segments of 20-metre each.

“At the construction site which is often just beside an existing highway, we will stitch the three segments together to form a 60-metre BH Girder,” explained Tan. “Stitching is a technical term used in civil engineering to mean pre-stressing the three segments to make into one long and strong structure.”

The South Korean-Malaysian technology which went through a full scale static load test on Nov 21, 2018 is now on a full swing with a number of other ongoing projects, including the Salak Interchange and the Desa Pandan-Jalan Jelatek section of the SPE-DUKE expressway. – Dec 4, 2020

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