Landsvirkjun, The National Power Company of Iceland, has announced to contractors tending for the construction of the Kárahnjúkar dam (KAR-11) that the Norwegian contractor Af Gruppen ASA will be tending for this part of the Kárahnjúkar project in cooperation with the Danish company E. Phil & Son and the Icelandic contractor Ístak.

The new bridge over the glacial river Jökulsá á Brú, close to Mt. Fremri-Kárhnjúkur, will be officially opened next Thursday, along with the newly constructed Kárahnjúkar road. The ceremony is arranged by the Ministry of Commerce and Landsvirkjun, The National Power Company of Iceland.

Despite harsh conditions and an early winter, contractors building the Kárahnjúkar road have completed their task more than a month ahead of schedule. Work started at the beginning of September this year and was due to be concluded on 01 December, according to bidding contracts. The Kárahnjúkar road is 24 km long and leads up to the proposed dam site at Mt. Fremri-Kárahnjúkur.

Tenders for the construction of the Kárahnjúkar dam and the power station’s headrace tunnel were made public on Friday. The Italian contractor Impreglio put in the lowest bids for both parts of the project.

Workers of Iclandic Prime Contractor (IPC) and the Norwegian/Swedish contractor NCC will probably start blasting an access tunnel at Mt. Fremri-Kárahnjúkur today. Preperatory work has been carried out for the past weeks including the leveling out of the area in front of the tunnel opening, setting up a steel-frame house and strengthening the rock face.

Contractors have started moving heavy machinery to the proposed dam site at Mt. Fremri-Kárahnjúkur where they will start tunnel work after the weekend. The civil contractor IPC (Iceland Prime Contractor) will handle this part of the Kárahnjúkar project.

Trucks, bulldozers and other heavy machinery have started crossing the new bridge over the river Jökulsá á dal, which was formally opened at a ceremony on Thursday. Before the ceremony, however, the bridge builders had tried the bridge out by driving a fully loaded truck and a bulldozer across the river. Sveinn Jónsson from Hönnun shot the pictures below.

Alcoa and Landsvirkjun, the National Power Company of Iceland, finished negotiating a Power Contract today for a new greenfield 320,000 tpa aluminum smelter at Reydarfjordur, East Iceland. At the same time negotiation of contracts was finalized between Alcoa, the Icelandic Ministry of Industry, Fjardabyggd township and the Harbor Fund of Fjardabyggd.

Tenders for the construction of the Kárahnjúkar project’s dams and headrace tunnel will be made public on 06 December. The announcement was scheduled on 29 November but was postponed at the request of the Italian contractor Impreglio. The Italian company intends to tender for both projects and after consulting with other contractors bidding for the projects, Landsvirkjun agreed on a postponement.