Road Refurbishment Programme

The original plan for the road refurbishment programme was expected to be completed within two months. However, once work commenced and the devastating effects of the heavy rainfall on work already completed were observed, it became obvious that continuous road maintenance would be required in order to keep the road in a condition suitable for movement of articulated dump trucks during the final bulk sample transport phase. By mid November 2006, the road had been sufficiently rehabilitated for use by the dump trucks and hauling to Koidu commenced.

Before refurbishment


Log bridge	Log bridge	Erosion gulley in road


Road between Kenema and Tongo	River crossing	Log bridge and flooded roadway

Work on the Tongo-Koidu road was divided into four phases. The photographs below show various stages of progress on the road and give an insight into the extent of the rehabilitation that was necessary in order to bring the road up to the standard required.

Phase 1 - 27 September 2005 to 31 January 2006


10,656 tonnes of laterite hauled, dumped and graded to resurface Tongo-Kangama-Moimandu road	Widening of the 20km Tongo-Kangama-Moimandu main road to 8-10m	Installation of 11 steel culverts - Tongo-Kangama-Moimandu road	Construction of 4m x 6m x 200mm concrete bridge at Konjo

Phase 2 - 1 February 2006 to 31 March 2006


Widening of the 20km Kangama-Moimandu-Njaima Nimikoro feeder road to 5m	Construction of 8m x 4.2m x 200mm concrete bridge at Njagbahun	Installation of 11 culverts between Kangama and Njaima Nimikoro	Resurfacing of road near Moimandu

Phase 3 - 1 May 2006 to 31 January 2007


Construction of 6m x 4m x200mm concrete bridge at Tokpombu	Drilling (356 holes, 1,068m) and blasting (3,170 tonnes) of granite at Periwahun quarry	Maintenance and resurfacing of road with 16mm tailings from Koidu (4,958 tonnes)	Drill and blast rock at Norway

Other activities carried out in Phase 3 included:

Resurfacing (4,000 tonnes of decomposed granite) and maintenance of 10km section of 5m wide road from Moimandu to Njaima Nimikoro
Excavation of 12,000 tonnes of waste rock for road construction at Kangama Hill Pass
Construction of temporary bridge at Kangama
Resurfacing of Moimandu-Nimikoro road for Presidential visit
Construction of bypass culvert at Tokpombu
Repair of road between Venima and Periwahun

Phase 4 - 1 February 2007 to 31 May 2007


Widening from 12m to 15m from Norway Village to Moimandu	Widening from 12m to 15m Moimandu to Njalehun