Landslide stabilisation at the Clyde Power Project: A major geotechnical undertaking

Construction work on one of the world’s largest landslide stabilisation projects is drawing to a close in Central Otago. Begun in mid 1990, major stabilisation work has been carried out on seven large rockslides which will be partly inundated when the Clyde dam reservoir (Lake Dunstan) is filled. The work has required the construction of 14.5 km of tunnel, 60 km of surface drilling, 78 km of drilled drainage holes and 5 million cubic metre of earthworks. The stabilisation programme has been carried out by the Electricity Corporation of NZ as part of the Clyde Power Project, a hydro-electric development on the Clutha River.