L
ocated near the internationally
famed Giza Pyramids in
Cairo, Egypt’s planned Grand
Egyptian Museum is set to become
one of the largest – if not the biggest –
archaeological museum in the world.
Devoted entirely to a single civilisation,
the museum – currently being built 15km
southeast of Cairo – is set to galvanise
the global fascination with ancient
Egyptian culture.
Tasked with building the project
is Belgian construction giant Besix,
alongside its 50% owner, Egyptian
contracting firm Cairo-based Orascom
Construction, which is headed by chief
executive officer, Osama Bishai. The
museum will house roughly 100,000
artefacts from various periods of Egypt’s
history – 20,000 of which are beingshown for the very first time. With its
scale in mind, the size and complexity of
the project mirrors that of the pyramids- Khufe, Khafre, and Menkaure – that
sits at its base.
Grand Egyptian Museum – referred
to as GEM by its project team – is not
Besix’s first project in Egypt, with the
group boasting more than 20 years of
work in the country. Today, however,
any project it carries out in the country
is performed under a joint venture
arrangement with Orascom, and GEM
is no exception, as project director
Laurens Schokking tells Construction
Week during a tour of the site.
He explains: “Our client on the project
is the Ministry of State for Antiquities,
represented by the minister. But
Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA)
is actually with this project, and their
representative comes from the armed
forces – Engineering Authority of Armed
Forces (EAAF).
“Our direct client, whom we deal with
on a day to day basis is Maj Gen Atef
Moftah, general supervisor of GEM.
The project management consultant is a
joint venture between Hill International
and Ehaf – a local Egyptian consulting
engineering group.”
The project is being built in three
phases with the Besix-Orascom JV tasked
with construction Phase 3 (GEM III),
which covers the museum complex. The
first phase concerned the construction
of the museum’s conservation centre,
which adjoins the main museum by an
underground tunnel. The second relates
to the construction of the energy centre,SITE VISIT
30 CONSTRUCTION WEEK 3 - 30 AUGUST, 2019 WWW.CONSTRUCTIONWEEKONLINE.COM