Last week, my attention was caught by a news item announcing that five major Egyptian construction projects won the Engineering News-Record (ENR) Global Best Projects award. I went straight to the ENR website and, indeed, found five Egyptian projects on the winners’ list. The US-based ENR is among the most prominent and reliable construction and engineering periodicals in the world. Every year, it releases a report ranking the most important companies in this sector and, ten years ago, it began to offer awards to outstanding construction projects in the world. The selections are based on diverse criteria, including commitment to international design and construction standards and environmental friendliness.
The Egyptian awardees are: the Islamic Cultural Centre carried out by the Arab Contractors under the supervision of the Armed Forces in the New Administrative Capital; the Development of South Valley of Toshka by Hassan Allam Holding; the Ras Ghareb Wind Farm in the Gulf of Suez, undertaken by Orascom Construction; the Adly Mansour Transportation Hub in Cairo, carried out by the Arab Contractors under the supervision of the Ministry of Transport’s General Tunnels Authority; and the renovation of the Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum, again in Cairo, also by Arab Contractors under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture. Among the eligibility criteria for the ENR’s Global Best Projects award is that they should be designed and executed by local construction firms.
My joy at this news can only be matched by my surprise that our media, which often relays negative reports circulated by quarters known for their anti-Egyptian bias, did not cover this news which inspires optimism, beyond citing a statement by the spokesman for the office of the presidency. I hope our media will make the effort to visit those projects, conduct interviews with the people involved in the various phases of development and execution, and investigate their merits in terms of design and impact on people’s lives. Egyptians have a right to know about the important mega projects that are being carried out in their country and why they merited praise and awards from specialist agencies abroad.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 6 October, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
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