Multinational Geo-data specialist Fugro has announced the successful completion of a geotechnical site investigation in Egypt to provide essential Geo-data for the design and construction of a new bridge over the Aswan Dam on the Nile river.

The Dutch company said its expertise in ground investigation and experience in similar projects were key differentiators in winning this contract award from The Arab Contractors.

According to Fugro, Aswan is famous for its granite, which were used to build the ancient Egyptian monuments. “These hard Gabbro and Granite formations can impede the drilling and sampling activities required for accurate site characterisation. However, by deploying a range of wireline techniques and using state-of-the-art drilling equipment, Fugro drilled boreholes in the hard granite rock and acquired the necessary samples. These samples were then analysed in Fugro’s IAS-accredited in-country soils laboratory to provide the vital parameters and characteristics needed for the bridge design,” said a statement from the company.

Mohamed Mostafa, business line director for Land Site Characterisation at Fugro, said: “This project was located in Aswan city, an area with extremely hard ground conditions that often create technical challenges. Fugro’s drilling experience and capabilities in hard rock layers surmounted these challenges and led to successful delivery of the site investigation.”

The success on this project led the Arab Contractors to award Fugro subsequent contracts for the Cairo Monorail project, which will be Egypt’s first monorail, and the construction of a bridge in front of the President’s Palace.

The eventual Aswan Dam bridge will have eight traffic lanes and is intended to offload some of the heavy road traffic currently routed entirely over the current Aswan Low Dam bridge, which was built in 1902.