Andrew was employed by AMEC Utilities who were engaged by the sponsor of the project, the Overseas Development Administration (ODA), a British non-government organisation.

During the siege of Sarajevo between 1992 and 1995, natural gas was used as a means of heating and cooking for the inhabitants trapped in the city. The existing gas network in Sarajevo was limited at the time of the war and due to extreme hardships endured by the population, using the gas network for heating was extended by illegal or DIY means.

These networks had a working pressure of up to 800 kPa and were constructed out of a variation of materials including box sections, galvanised and bare steel pipe and even rubber hoses.

Where people were living in high rise buildings there were two ingenious methods of supplying gas to the apartments. One was to run rubber hoses up the outside of the buildings and use steel tees, available in local markets for individual supplies. Alternatively, as most apartments already had radiators and pipes to each room, gas was connected directly to the water pipes. and gas was then burnt using syringes or modified shell casings which had herring bones patterns cut into the metal, or were home made from half inch box section burners from local markets.

A major draw back was that the gas was not odorised for a considerable period of time and there were reports of fatalities caused by gas leaks in apartments. Additionally, there was not enough gas to feed all the illegal networks, and as such there was a rotation system in operation when gas was flowing. Suburbs had gas either turned on or off on alternative days at 2:00 pm. When gas was turned on at the farthest points of the networks, gas could then take up to 4 hours to come through the pipes to properties.

Reconstruction works

Following the signing of the Dayton Agreement in 1995 which signaled the end of the Civil War, one of the first jobs for Sarajevo Gas was to make the gas supply situation safe. As such all of the illegal or DIY gas networks were cut off. This had the effect of then leaving a large part of the population without any form of heating.

The reconstruction of the reticulation system was then a priority job for Sarajevo Gas. ODA supplied the materials for the reconstruction of the gas network in the Brijesce area of Sarajevo. Work commenced in the summer of 1996 on the 13 km gas reticulation system and the 500 individual gas services for the project. The local community in Brijesce was very grateful for the new gas supply system but they had a very important role to play in the project. It is custom in Sarajevo that if you require gas that you have to dig your own trench for the service pipe and also for the gas main in the street in front of your house. As gas was a necessity for the winter there were no objections and the local people completed the work with enthusiasm. The local people also had to supply Sarajevo Gas workers with lunch every day when working in their street!

Another project involved the laying of a new 1.5 km 8 inch TP supply to the boiler house for the district heating plant in Ilijas. Ilijas was one of the towns which changed sides at the signing of Dayton and subsequently had a completely new population in 1996. In light of this it was decided that a 150 strong contingent of the Bosnian Army, stationed close by would dig the trench for the pipeline. This again was completed satisfactorily apart from the odd OH&S problem, due to the fact that the electrical supply for the welding machine was taken from the closest lamp post! Fortunately there were no problems using the lamp post for the power supply, but this does show that ‘necessity is the mother of invention’.

The final project completed during Andrew’s assignment was the pigging of the 16 inch, 20 to 28 bar transmission pressure pipeline from Zvornik to Sarajevo. Only one run was completed in September 1996 which resulted in the loss of the plate from the gauging pig. The reason for this loss was never found due to part of the pipeline route being mined and no investigation being able to be completed in this section. It was assumed however that either a tank had crushed the pipeline or there was an illegal connection to the pipeline.