Island WaysWriter Jennie Clarke

Above: Fidez Oreta. Photo: XXXXXX.

Below: Tim Grant testing the soil compaction of a watermain trench in Kiribati. Photo: XXXX.

Straddling the equator, halfway between Hawaii and Australia, the 33 sun-soaked, lagoon-locked coral atolls of the Independent and Sovereign Republic of Kiribati belie its status as one of the poorest and least developed countries on the planet. Currently, for two young New Zealand engineers, the nation’s capital, Tarawa, is home.

Fidez Oreta, 23, and Tim Grant, 25, are site engineers for construction giant McConnell Dowell, lead contractor on a US$39 million development-assistance-funded road rehabilitation project. Backed by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Australian Government, it will take two years to rehabilitate this 27-kilometre lifeline. Connecting Tarawa’s main port and commercial centre, Betio in the west, to the airport at Bonriki in the east, the road ribbons across numerous islets and causeways: it’s the critical link between villages, schools and hospitals for the I-Kiribati people.

Almost half the country’s 106,000 population live cheek by jowl in Tarawa: 2,250 people per square kilometre to be precise.

That’s up there with Frankfurt, Brussels and New York. However, unlike those city-dwellers, most I-Kiribati live in slum-like con-ditions typical of third world countries. Diabetes, tuberculosis, leprosy are common. Diarrhoea and food poisoning are rife.

So, how did two of our brightest and best wash up in Kiribati? Five-month resident, Ms Oreta says “I started as a graduate engineer with McConnell Dowell at the beginning of last year, on the Arapuni Dam in South Waikato. By September, that had finished and the search was on for extra staff for Kiribati. I’d been interested in transportation and roading at university, so it seemed a good fit project-wise and the timing was perfect. I decided to give it a go and by December, I was here!”

By comparison, this is Mr Grant’s second go in the Pacific. In 2011, as a new graduate with McConnell Dowell, he was Cook Islands-based, working on a Rarotongan wharf project. “After that 18-month stint, I went on leave, travelling for six months and when I came back, the Kiribati job was available. I’d really liked working in the tropics and I’d never done a roading project, so it seemed like a pretty good place to start.”

However, the Kiribati (pronounced KIR-e-bas) project is not solely about roads. Eleven kilometres of damaged water mains

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are also being replaced and additional infrastructure installed. With no “as-builts”, it’s particularly challenging work. Ms Oreta explains, “It’s not like New Zealand, where providers know the location of their lines. There are lots of shallow services and redundant ones they don’t know about – there are always surprises during excavation.” Consequently, below-ground investigation is essential; a dedicated pot holing crew dig every 20 metres and any found services recorded. “It’s a major aspect of the job and as much about the safety of our guys as anything else,” she says.

These new as-builts are a key part of Ms Oreta and Mr Grant’s site engineering role. As Ms Oreta says, “I’ve been looking after quite a bit of underground services work. The supervisors come to me about every two days with the information they’ve found and I’ll do all the major data entry and plotting. And we’ve got a “draughty” [draughtsman] on site, a local guy, so I teach him how to use Autocad and draw up the as-builts.”

In fact, alongside McConnell Dowell’s team of 26 ex-pats, more than 130 I-Kiribati are employed by the company, doing hands-on labouring to the more technical, skilled work. It’s part of the contract to leave the locals with skills and experience for future employment, either on the island or overseas. All the labouring work is local, Mr Grant says. “It’s physically demanding but the guys are always keen to get stuck in, they seem to love it; it’s pretty impressive what they can do, especially in the heat.” For surveying, he has a couple of switched-on chain boys who are picking things up so quickly they’re starting to survey for themselves. It’s the same with the laboratory technicians. “Teaching these guys is extremely rewarding, seeing their faces when they get something right. I don’t think they would ever have expected a chance like this to come along,” he adds.

So, what does a site engineer’s day look like equator-side, where average temperatures sit around 31 degrees Celsius,

“Almost half the country’s 106,000 population live cheek by jowl in Tarawa: 2,250 people per square kilometre to be precise. That’s up there

with Frankfurt, Brussels and New York.”

Opposite: McConnell Dowell workers constructing the airport road in Tarawa. Photo: McConnell Dowell Constructors.

Left: Tim Grant testing the soil compaction of a watermain trench. Photo: McConnell Dowell Constructors.

Below: Engineer Fidez Oreta at the old jetty outside Immigration Departure in Kiribati. Photo: McConnell Dowell Constructors.

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SUPREME AWARD - COMMERCIAL PROJECT OF THE YEARJudges’ comment: “A tour de force of creative procurement, inspired design, and superbly managed construction.”mcconnelldowell.com

LOWER HATEA RIVER CROSSINGWHANGAREI

April through October, 25 degrees Celsius November through March, and annual rainfall averages two metres? Ms Oreta: “We’re on the job by 6.30am. I catch up on my paperwork first thing and plan the rest of my day, think about the safety aspects I might run into, that sort of thing. Then I’ll get out on site, where I spend most of my time. I look after the Bonriki side of the island, Tim looks after the Betio side.”

On a good day it’s a 45 minute drive from the Betio-based McConnell Dowell headquarters to Bonriki; on a bad day it can take an hour-and-a-half to cover the same 27 kilometres. “The road is terrible. It’s basically a coral and sand road with some sealed sections. When it’s dry, sand fills up the pot holes so it’s passable; the cars don’t have too much trouble. But when it’s raining – and there’s lots of torrential rain – the sand washes out leaving deep recesses which the cars really struggle with. It’s pretty tiring manoeuvring through it all.”

Ms Oreta stops off at individual crews along the way. “At the moment we’ve got a crew doing drainage, new drains on the side of the road. So I’ll call in and see what’s going on, any problems that need sorting out, any surveying requirements, that sort of thing. We do a lot of kerbing, so there’s a lot of kerb checks – levels and compaction on the trenches.” She likes to chat with the supervisors, make sure they have all the technical information they need to do the job. Sometimes it’s giving them a drawing. Sometimes it’s guidance on where to go and how things will fit in. It’s the same with crews repairing sea walls along

the causeways. From a quality assurance perspective, these frequent site visits are essential. Then, back in Betio sometime between 4.00pm and 5.00pm, the site diaries get updated. “It’s an important job, keeping track of progress, recording accurate information, especially if you need to re-visit something later on.”

During her first week in Kiribati, Ms Oreta wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle the heat. She has, of course, but as Mr Grant says, the climate isn’t the only difference to get used to. “Kiribati’s a third world country so when I first arrived, it was a real eye opener, especially the living conditions, seeing the people living in houses that are in such poor condition. The contrast to New Zealand was quite a surprise.”

Fortunately, the ex-pats’ camp-like accommodation is amongst the best on the island. It’s communal living, with all meals (a lot of fish and rice) provided. Sourcing fresh fruit and vegetables is difficult; growing conditions on the atoll are harsh. “You can’t even get fresh pineapples like you might expect,” Ms Oreta says. “It’s quite hard at first but you adapt quite quickly.” Frozen vegetables and other foodstuffs are shipped from home, alongside large quantities of bottled water. “I wouldn’t recommend cleaning your teeth with the tap water,’ she says, “You just never know.”

Even Tarawa’s lagoon – all 500 square kilometres of it – is out of bounds for swimming. Heavily polluted, it’s the I-Kiribati’s traditional spot for showering and toileting, doing the dishes and washing clothes. With a paucity of sanitation facilities, official

Opposite: Fidez Oreta with the locally hired employees. Photo: McConnell Dowell Constructors.

Left: Best coffee in town – a local cafe at the airport in Kiribati. Photo: McConnell Dowell Constructors.

Above: Local children in Tarawa in their Sunday best. Photo: McConnell Dowell Constructors.

“When it’s raining – and there’s lots of torrential rain – the sand washes out leaving deep recesses which the cars

really struggle with.”

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estimates put outdoor toileting as usual practice for 60 per cent of the population. A soon-to-start water sanitation project should help but there’s a long way to go. “You have to look after your health, that’s for sure, be careful about what you eat and drink, keep up your fluid and vitamin C intake, that sort of thing,” Ms Oreta comments. If the worst happens, it usually means a “medevac”; the local hospitals – there are two – are very basic. “Living communally, we’re all acutely aware the effect our ill health could have on our colleagues.”

The challenges might be tough: add in rainy season delays, damaging king tides, extended logistics lead-in times and working “island time” – but they’re also part of the appeal. “The people seem happy, really happy. There’s a different pace, a different kind of lifestyle. You can’t go bringing your Western ideal about how things should be done. You have to adapt to the culture, the way things are done here. And you’re always thinking on your feet, always troubleshooting new solutions. But I think that’s just a characteristic of engineering, really,” Ms Oreta says modestly.

There’s no doubting the development significance of this project is far-reaching. It is most certainly about infrastructure provision and local skill improvement for a people in need. Critically though, it’s also about fostering the capabilities and resourcefulness of our own emerging and enthusiastic engineering talent.

“You can’t go bringing your Western ideal about how things should be done.

You have to adapt to the culture, the way things are done here.”

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