1. CareerEpisode - 1 Page | 1
CAREER EPISODE - 1
300 MW Single Cycle Power Plant (SCPP) site in Safir, approximately 60 km from the town of
Marib, Yemen.
CE 1.1 : Introduction
Project Name : MARIB 300 MW Gas Turbine Power Station
Employer : ARABIAN BEMCO CONTRACTING CO. LTD & Siemens AG Power Generation ( J.V )
Position : Civil Site Engineer
Period : June 2008 to July 2011
Location : Marib - Yemen
Contract type: Turn key
Client : Public Electricity Corporation (Government Authority)
I was employed as a Civil Engineer by - Arabian BEMCO Contracting Co. Ltd. which is one of the largest
construction companies in the Middle East based in Saudi Arabia. This power plant project was a joint
venture with Siemens AG Power Generation.
CE1.2 : Back Ground
CE 1.2.1
The project of Marib Single Cycle Power Plant (SCPP) site in Safir, approximately 60 km from the town
of Marib city at East of Yemen have two major parts , first was to construct the Generator Turbine Area
(GTA) and the second part was the Housing Complex Area (HCA), both parts were running parallel at
the same time .
CE 1.2.2
The content of GTA buildings are Exhaust Stack, Switchgear and control building, Air compressor
Building, Diesel generator building, ISO phase bus duct foundations, Fuel oil storage area, CO2 Bottles
skid foundation, Fuel oil unloading and transfer area, Gas area, Transformers area, Auxiliary transformers
area , Foam station area , Fire water pump house , Fire water tank area , Plant water area and tanks,
Ware house an workshop building, Gate houses and entry gates, Fencing, Roads, walkways and car

2. CareerEpisode - 1 Page | 2
parking, Storm water and sanitary drainage networks, Oil water separators, Sleeper way, cable trenches
and duct banks and Access roads.
CE 1.2.3
The HCA consists of a two-story building having eight 3 bedroom units, another two-story building
having twelve 2 bedroom units, and another two -story building having sixteen 1 bedroom units, plus
Medical clinic, shops , Mosque suitable for a population of 100 persons, Fence And Guard house .
CE 1.2.4
My position (shown in organization chart ) was as follows :

3. CareerEpisode - 1 Page | 3
CE 1.2.5
My duties and responsibilities in this project is the following:
1. Study the Agreement document with project subcontractors and clear understanding for all
agreement details with attached drawing , BOQ And schedule .
2. Maintain HSE as a top priority at site .
3. Follow up the subcontractors to practice all the project specifications and requirements
mentioned in the project technical specification during all construction process.
4. Review and compare the actual bill of quantities at site with contract quantities and identify the
variations due to that plus or minus .
GeneralManager
Power Plants
Projects Manager
Mr : Ali Khalifa
Project Manager
Mr : Yossifsaleba
Site Manager
Mr : Wajih Al-Masri
Electro-Mechanical
Manager
Civil Construction
Manager
Mr : Fadi Hamd
Ohter siteEngineers
with equal
responsibilities
Site Engineer
Ali Fateh Al-Rahman
Mohamed
survey departments Documentcontroller laboratory
Company
equipments and
machinery
Civil Subcontractors
Engineers
Safty Manager
Administarion
Manager
Other Pojects
Managers

4. CareerEpisode - 1 Page | 4
5. Coordinate with electro-mechanical team at site to warranty work continuity as per the project
schedule and time line.
6. Review the project schedule on daily basis and prepare a recovery plan if needed.
7. Attend the daily meeting with the civil construction manager and weekly meeting with the site
manager and monthly meeting with the project manager to review the project statement and
submit the project progress reports .
8. Assure QA/QC plan at site.
9. Coordinate with subcontractor engineers at their daily activity at site , and identify the zones of
work for them to avoid any work stoppage due to cross work zones.
10. Get the consultant approval for all civil work activity at site after submitting all the support
documents along with RFI - Request For Inspection - .
11. Represent our company in safety and security meetings with our senior partner (Siemens AG
Power Generation ) along with partner site manager and both parties’ safety officers.
12. Guide the survey departments through the project exact coordinates and fix the reference points
for all project as an important introduction for survey activity at site.
13. Analyze laboratory test results done at site , and give written instruction to the subcontractor
based on test results and knowledge about engineering discipline .
14. Co-operate with the document controller to update the civil drawings after technical discussions
with our main technical office and issuing the sequent letters to subcontractors ,Consultant &
client with easy to find archives.
15. Prepare material approval sheets for material .
16. Manage the company equipments and machinery at site.
CE 1.3 Personal engineering activities:
CE 1.3.1
My first task in the project was to study the agreement document signed already with all
subcontractors. This document described the subcontractors scope of work with a schedule attached ,
Technical specifications ,and BOQ. During this period , around two month before site clearance &
mobilization , I clearly understood the project requirements and target , during this period of time I
attended :
 Project Kick -Off meeting to present the project team and describe the organization chart presented
by administration manager.
 Three contractual meetings presented by senior contract engineer.
 Three safety meetings included (HSE) short courses presented by the safety officer.
 One meeting for Project document system and paper works presented by senior document
controller.
CE 1.3.2

5. CareerEpisode - 1 Page | 5
I Understood the project design criteria for GTA and HCA, such as site description, geological and
geotechnical characteristics, wind, humidity, etc., Throughout the drafting of the Project, issues not
included in the criteria were raised. And I solved these problems by means of a rational adaptation of
the requirements by applying specific standards and good engineering practices.
CE 1.3.3
Our project was located in the desert and only sand hills were all around the site which had to be
removed. There were no existing buildings or services networks based on project survey coordinates
and topographic reports. I started the site clearance by identify all the major work areas with my
surveyor team and instructed to remove all the sand above the required level. I used different type of
machineries at this stage such as bulldozer and trucks with estimated calculation of removed sand
quantity.
CE 1.3.4
I was actively involved in the mobilization of project by constructing the senior and junior
accommodation camps with all required facilities and temporary chain fence. I also chose the site
offices and its services locations and started immediately the permanent site fence with all required
temporary roads inside the project and between the project and camps.
CE 1.3.5
After setting out of the structural elements locations by survey department, I ensured that the soil
investigation report mentioned the bearing capacity of soil. I made sure that the load or pressure
developed under the foundation without introducing and damaging movement in the foundation and
in the supporting structure and mentioned the required excavation depth, I started the excavation and
backfilling stage with the following conditions:
 Excavation for Structures shall be done down to a suitable bearing strata as approved by
consultant. I maintained a tolerance of +/- 25 mm beneath plain concrete foundations and +/- 15
mm beneath reinforced concrete foundations and ground bearing slabs. Prior to commencing the
excavation works, all lines, levels and natural ground levels shall be agreed with the consultant .
 Excavation included the removal of all earth, rocks, boulders, services not to be used and all items
found but required to be removed, to permit the construction of the building. In excavating for
foundations I had to take care not to disturb bottom of excavation.
 Backfilling : The suitable material for the backfilling is the materials excavated from the site or
imported from outside that are in conformance with the specifications and are approved by me as a
main Site Engineer for their intended use. Additionally, I ensured that the material be free from
refuse, large stones or rocks, or other material which may prevent proper compaction or cause the
compacted fill or embankment to perform inadequately or to have insufficient stability or bearing
capacity for the superimposed loads. Material to have a maximum allowable chlorides content of

6. CareerEpisode - 1 Page | 6
1% and a maximum allowable sulphate content of 5%. I ensured that the suitable Fill Material
complies with the following limits:
– Liquid Limit (AASHTO - T89) 30% max.
– Plasticity Index (AASHTO - T90) 6% max.
– Total Water Soluble Salts (BS1377) 5% max.
– Minimum soaked CBR of 15% when the material is compacted to 95% of the MDD.
– Maximum Chloride contents 1%
– Maximum allowable Sulphates 5%
– Maximum particle size to be not more than 100mm.
– Rock shall mean those geological strata or deposits so designated on the drawings and any
hard, natural or artificial material requiring the use of approved pneumatic tools for its
removal, but excluding individual masses less than 0.20 cubic meters.
 Compaction Requirements: I ensured that the suitable fill material was compacted to 98 percent
maximum dry density. Suitable fill material placed within 200mm of formation level shall in addition
have a minimum soaked CBR (California Bearing Ratio ) Value of 15 percent. I also ensured that the
maximum dry density was determined by the modified AASHTO tests carried out in accordance with
BS Standard.
 Testing: During earthworks construction, I instructed and followed up the laboratory to make a
control tests as per common engineering discipline to determine the degree of compaction
achieved .
CE 1.3.6
Concrete Technology : During project life time, I supervised more than 2000 M3 of concrete activity
at site for three types of concrete ( Plain Concrete , Reinforced Cement Concrete & Pre-Cast Concrete).
The main properties of the concrete in plastic state is good workability , free of Segregation , No
Bleeding and Required surface finishing , When the concrete moved to hardened state the required
properties will be strength, Workability , Durability , Impermeability , Shrinkage & Creep . In this project
we had an internal batching plant supervised by our material engineer so that we warranted the
concrete quality from resource and when concrete trucks arrived to site I instructed the laboratory
team to make slump test ( One of different empirical test for measuring the workability of fresh
concrete ) and taking six cube for laboratory compressive strength test , I carried three tests after
seven days and other three cubes were tested after 28 days ( Concrete Strength Main Test ) . The
curing of concrete is very important and effective in concrete life and purpose of use and main
challenge in concrete is to deliver it with good condition with very hot climate so for that I suggest to
add a calculated big ice cubes to the mix in the truck just before lift the batching plant and keep the
admixes ready to use when required .
CE 1.3.7
I supervised several kinds of building finishing material applied at site, such as

7. CareerEpisode - 1 Page | 7
 Partition Walls : I ensured a thin internal wall is constructed to divide the space within the buildings
into rooms or areas , by using a half brick thin and constructed by laying bricks as stretchers in
cement mortar and then , the wall was plastered on both sides .
 Flooring : The exposed top surface of floor called floor covering or floor finish, I used terrazzo
flooring normally in residential areas like HCA but in GTA I used different kind of flooring due to
purpose of flooring in each area, such as epoxy flooring to avoid the damage of concrete because
of liquids like diesel in black start diesel generator and I constructed a raised floor in switch gear
building because of electronic panel.
CE 1.3.8
Infrastructure : During my work in the project, I supervised different type of infrastructure works such
as storm water system, Process Drainage system, Ducting works for electrical cables, underground fire
fighting pipes, waste water system and low voltage cable. On each of these systems I used a different
type of material, I used a concrete pipes, cast iron pipes, PVC pipes, HDPE pipes for storm water
system, process drainage, fire fighting system respectively .
CE 1.3.9
Survey & Laboratory : One of the important tasks for me as a Site Engineer was to guide the survey
and laboratory teams. I start with survey team to fixed our reference points at site for coordination and
level using Total station & Level instruments, based on these points I started the setting out of the
buildings, roads, steel structure etc., and I had a clear idea about the tolerance short limits due to the
accuracy of structure of power plant. I also supervised the laboratory team to carryout required control
tests during construction and I analyzed the test results and gave my instructions to subcontractor
based on it .
CE 1.3.10
HSE : During project lifetime we achieved 8640 Hour without any major injuries, this is a real indicator
of HSE quality at site. Sometimes I stopped the work totally at site because of nature safety issues like
heavy sandy storm or due to some dangerous activity at site like x- ray test for gas pipe line. Some
areas in the project needed special permit to work on it from the safety officer after attending the
required HSE short course for work regulations in this areas , I ensured proper protocol was followed.
CE1 1.3.11
Roads and Landscaping : Inside the project we had more than 10 KM of fixable pavement, the
structure of this road depended on three earth work layers (Sub grade, Sub-base & Base) and two
layers of asphalt (Binder course 6 cm & wearing course 4 cm) with required MC (Medium Cutback) for
good bind between the earth work and asphalt . During the road works I guided the survey team to
control the layers thickness and alignment and also guided the laboratory team in required tests like
compaction tests and CBR test (California Bearing Ratio). After completion of buildings, infrastructure

8. CareerEpisode - 1 Page | 8
and road works I started the landscaping works based on its drawing, the areas as per its requirements
and uses covered by gravel, crushed aggregate, sand and agriculture.
CE 1.3.12
Construction Management : It was a challenging task to deal with groups of subcontractors each one
working in their scope with different policies to execute the project economically without effecting the
quality, as well as planning in organised manner. To ensure that there is a proper co-ordination
between me and subcontractors , I took into consideration the following factors:
 Check the wastage of material and labour.
 Complete the work in shortest possible time.
 Have less construction coast.
 Improve the quality of work by using modern construction equipments.
 Review the contractor invoices & BOQ and compare it with required progress and identify the exact
percentage of cost/progress ratio .
During the project I planned, Organised and controlled all my civil activity scope with high level of co-
ordination with subcontractors and other tams working at site.
CE 1.4
Summary:
In this project there were a different level of engineers and I had to manage the relations between these
different levels in a best way for effective work progress. I had to deal with client’s engineers,
consultant engineers, our company engineers in electromechanical department and subcontractor’s
engineers and with all of these I had to make sure that all the activities at site were carried out without
any obstructions . Under these tough working environment , I learned to deal with complicated issues ,
argue with facts and figures and behave as a team worker . On the other hand I felt that I was helping
the community in this developed county - as mind – and the electricity projects are one of the most
valuable project to them .
One major concern I had about this project is the environmental effect of gas pollution. And I
discussed that with the project manager but he assured me that the emissions from the power plant
were within the permissible international border, and that the company had handed over a report
showing the percentage of these emissions and their suitability for the environment to local
government. This was my first project and that gave me a huge step of confidence to move for my
next challenge.
*******