With much of Saudi Arabia's road network now complete, local Dynapac dealer Medco has found road maintenance companies are becoming its main customers.

Over the last 30 years Saudi Arabia has constructed a road network second to none in the Middle East and with the exception of some sparsely populated border regions, road construction has now given way to road maintenance.''

Not only the highways linking the major cities need to be maintained, all inner and suburban roads are regularly rehabilitated. Medco says that roughly 70 per cent of its customers buying Dynapac units are solely involved in road maintenance.

"The extremely hot summer temperatures experienced in the Middle East melt and crack the asphalt,'' explains a spokesman for Arabian Technical Contracting. "We repair all the roads in Riyadh and this involves re-asphalting about every five years."

City roads

Arabian Technical Contracting is one of Saudi Arabia's largest road maintenance companies and it is responsible for all roads within the Riyadh area. This also includes all the major highways within a 100-km radius.

Due to the intense summer temperatures, asphalt roads are prone to cracking and consequently the company's work units are usually involved in at least three road rehabilitation projects every day.

The company has a fleet of over 50 construction machines, including a number of Dynapac units.

Over the last two years, Arabian Technical Contracting has purchased four CP 271 pneumatic rollers, in addition to its two CC 422 rollers. Its other Dynapac units include three 251 soil compactors and five LP 650H compactors.

The company's latest CP 271 was recently used on a maintenance project in the AI Khaldiah area of central Riyadh, where a number of residential and secondary streets were rehabilitated.

Most of the streets were last asphalted more than five years ago. The original base was typically removed to a depth of 15 cm. A type 4 asphalt was then laid and the CP 271 roller compacted the surface in four passes.

The CP 271 is a pneumatic roller used mainly in conjunction with other asphalt rollers for surface sealing. The unit has nine wheels, with five at the front. Rolling width of 2,350 mm is acheivable.

Arabian Technical Contracting says it purchased another Dynapac CP 271 roller because they perform under the harsh Arabian conditions and the after-sales service has proven in the past to be very good.

Frontier roads

Saudi Arabia has over 2,500 km of land frontier adjoining eight nations. This territory comes under the auspices of the Saudi Arabian Coastguard which is responsible for border security and anti-smuggling patrols. In order to make life easier for these patrols and to extend the life of their vehicles, a programme of road construction around the entire Kingdom's borders has now been completed. In order to maintain this extensive road network, the Saudi service has an on-going policy of upgrading its road construction machinery.

A Dynapac CA 251A asphalt compactor as well as a CP 271 pneumatic tyred roller have recently been added to the fleet of construction machines the Saudi Arabian Coastguard utilises for constructing and maintaining border roads.

The two Dynapac units are the first ever Dynapac units purchased by the Coastguard. Both units are now being used on road maintenance: the CA 251A asphalt compactor near the southern border with Yemen, and the CP 271 on the northern Iraqi frontier.

The CA 251A is a medium-sized asphalt compactor with a single vibratory drum and two rubber tyres at the rear. This machine is suitable for most types of asphalt mixes and can also be used on base courses and sub-bases.

All of the Dynapac units were supplied through the local dealer Medco, based in the Eastern Province.