Concrete Completion
The concrete work for the water gate is complete as of last Friday, May 30th.
The backfilling of the wing walls was also completed last week allowing us to ride over the bridge of the water gate on our motorbikes. Our contractor's remaining crew is currently working on the rip rap lining while waiting until Sunday to remove the rest of the formwork. Chanda, our contractor and his team are a month and a half ahead of schedule, and we are very excited to see the finished product. We went out on Tuesday to test out the control bars of the gateway, and were very happy to see some red added to the water gate. We are now concentrating our efforts on mobilizing the villages to complete the embankment grassing - just another 30% left! We are organizing another big event on Thursday, June 12th to accomplish the grassing in one day. We believe it will be another success. We still have substantial work to do on the excavation of the downstream canals, and we'll begin our celebrations when that and our Water User Groups are up and running!
Bac Kron and Met Sin (the two living closest to the reservoir) pose on the water gate
Ceda, Tobias, Chai, Bac Kron and Met Sin inspecting the newly painted control bars
Great news Tobias! Congratulations to you and your crew and to all those who helped make this a reality.
Posted by
Carolyn Younger |
June 6, 2008 1:57 PM
What a rush! Amazing! Fantastic! Wonderful! Outstanding! Fabulous! Wow! What a Human Translation!
Everyone who has been following this blog is just blown away! I point them to these pictures and they are astounded, and write me back.
One person wrote:
'Thank you for sending the link and the message. Last night Sharon and I watched "Lions for Lambs" and I went to bed completely discouraged about our future as beings on earth. Reading about Tobias's work and watching the video did so much to encourage - his work reflects and demonstrates all that is good and possible. Tom, I am blown away.'
Another sent one word: "Woweee!"
You and your wonderful staff must feel so good to get so far. And -- though it seems a long time to you -- so quickly. And we completely respect all the hard work that Engineers Without Borders poured into this project. And all the work by the community there that supports the project. But an equal measure goes to Human Translation, that has stayed committed and focused, and rallied the resources.
Congratulations!
Coming at the end of the month to see it myself. And maybe I should forget the wine ! Maybe they'll let me bring a bottle of champagne onto the plane.
Posted by
tms020348 |
June 6, 2008 9:56 PM