Airport expansion in the desert

The cities of Dashoguz and Turkmenabat are located in the Karakum desert region. With an area of over 400,000 km2, this accounts for around 90 percent of Turkmenistan’s total territory. At summer temperatures of 30 °C, the desert sand heats up to 70 °C. By contrast, temperatures in winter can average between 5 °C and -6 °C.
Work on expanding the capacity of the passenger terminal in Dashoguz began in 2013. This involved building a VIP terminal, a 50 metre high air traffic control tower, a new apron for aircraft parking bays, five taxiways and a runway measuring 3,800 metres in length. Expansion of the airport complex in Turkmenabat, 500 kilometres to the southeast, also started in 2013. This entailed construction of a new terminal, an air traffic control tower, a refuelling station and a 2,800 metre runway.

A proven team

ILF GmbH of Munich was appointed as the planning specifier for both projects and construction was entrusted to Altcom. This Ukrainian company had already collaborated successfully with MC in the past and was keen to have a well-established partner it could rely on. From 2011, MC made itself available on site, providing know-how and technical support to develop a concrete mix capable of reliably meeting the extreme environmental conditions of the Karakum desert. In addition to the high temperatures, the development team had to learn to deal with the not-always-ideal raw materials, including an extremely fine desert sand and just a single type of cement. Ultimately, with MC-PowerFlow 3100 and Centrament Air 202, a suitable concrete formulation was developed.