Profile:
SMEC grew out of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a massive hydropower and irrigation project undertaken in Australia between 1949 and 1974. In the post World War Two construction boom, the scheme became the iconic symbol of nation-building and remains, to this day, one of the worldâs civil engineering wonders. The purpose of the scheme was to divert the rivers of south eastern Australia back towards the west to provide irrigation water and to generate peak load electricity to the states of New South Wales and Victoria. At the time it was the largest infrastructure project in Australiaâs history. It brought together 100,000 workers from 30 countries who, over 25 years, constructed 16 major dams, seven power stations and one pumping station, 145 km of tunnels, 80 km of aqueducts and 2,000 km of roads. The Australian Government financed the scheme with the assistance of a $100 million loan from the World Bank.
Update Time:
2020-09-18