AN asphalt plant from Italy’s Marini is playing a key role in the construction of the multi-billion-dollar New Doha International Airport in Doha, Qatar.

The futuristic airport, which is being developed by Bechtel under a design, construction management and project management contract in phases at a total cost of $14.5 billion, is scheduled to open in 2012 and will have the capacity to handle 24 million passengers a year, rising to 50 million by 2015 when it is fully completed.

Consolidated Construction Company (CCC) is currently working on Package 27 – the midfield area access system – between the two runways and the main terminal. The project involves the construction of three tunnels to the terminal (two main tunnels and a service one), taxiways and cross-taxiways between the terminal.

As CCC needed to produce more than 850,000 tonnes of asphalt in just 10 months, it opted for a high-performance Marini plant designed by the renowned Italian manufacturer of the French Fayat Group.

With a capacity of 320 tonnes per hour, the Marini MAP320 chosen by CCC is capable of meeting the needs of the most exigent contractors who have large quantities of different hot mixes to produce, says Marini.

With five cold feeders, a vital bitumen heating storage area (10 tanks) and a 220-tonne hot mix silo, the plant is proving a reliable workhorse on the project, it adds.

The features that make the MAP320 a “winner” are many and related to proper design criteria which consider the principals of energy saving, cost reduction and environment safety as priority issues. The three different hot-mix truck loading points were – for the specific site layout – one of the key factors influencing CCC’s final choice.

The capability to load a truck directly under the mixer and another two from the hot  mix  storage  bins,  has provided the flexibility required by the contractor when executing complex works, the company adds.