Vinci and Bouygues land Cairo metro contract

expat network

Vinci and Bouygues land Cairo metro contract

The joint venture led by VINCI Construction Grands Projets, alongside Bouygues Construction’s subsidiary Bouygues Travaux Publics and their Egyptian partners Orascom Construction and Arabco Contractors, has won the Phase 3 contract for Line 3 of the Cairo metro. The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and the President of the French Republic, François Hollande, attended the official signing ceremony on 17 April 2016. The client, the National Authority for Tunnels, demonstrated renewed confidence in the joint venture, which has been building the metro system for North Africa’s largest urban area since 1981.

The new €1.1 billion, 67-month contract covers civil engineering for Phase 3 of Line 3, including 17.7 km of new line and 15 stations (eight underground, five elevated and two at ground level). The works will require construction of a new tunnel under the Nile. Once completed, Line 3 will increase the overall length of the Cairo metro system to 100 km and serve five million passengers daily. Work will start in the residential and administrative parts of the capital, including Zamalek Island, and end in the city’s densely populated and highly urbanised northern and southern districts.

The project will generate about 5,000 jobs and continue the longstanding French-Egyptian cooperation in underground works. It will also offer French SMEs a large number of opportunities. In the previous phase of the project, handed over in 2014, the joint venture called on more than 600 French SMEs as suppliers and subcontractors.

Driven by strong economic and population growth, Cairo is now North Africa’s largest city. The urban area has 16 million inhabitants and a very high population density of 73,500 people per km2. Automobile traffic has become highly congested. The expansion of the Cairo metro will help to efficiently and effectively regulate traffic and substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

In addition, the joint venture is also working on Phase 4a of Line 3, which will extend the system towards the eastern part of the city. The contract was signed in February 2015 and handover is set for the end of 2018.

Source: www.vinci-construction.com

Moving Abroad Checklist

Initial Considerations

Will your partner be travelling with you?

If so, what will they be giving up in your present home and will they be able to continue with their career in your new home? You will need to check whether a separate visa is required for your partner to work or if your visa gives that right. If they are unable to work you will need to decide on the effect on your finances and what alternatives are available to give a fulfilling life (home business, training, voluntary work).

Are you taking family with you?

Moving with family raises many exciting opportunities, but also can create challenges. The HSBC Expat Explorer survey indicates that expat kids can take six months to settle in to their new country (see article). Getting young or even older children to prepare to move and leave their friends and family behind can be a challenge and should be thought through.

The options for education is another area that needs to be thought through.

Moving your child to a new country with a different education system can be a great opportunity to broaden their experience, but if they are close to key exams the timing can make this inadvisable. If you do take your family with you, it is important to decide between joining the local school system or choosing an international school.

Where will you be living?

Whether you will be living in a house or apartment, furnished or unfurnished, these decisions will affect what you need to take with you. The time you are planning to live overseas will also affect whether you should leave your property at home empty, rent it out or sell it. See the article Sell, Store or Ship.