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stitching egypt back together
first there was the tunnel, now the massive bridge under construction
at qantara. twenty-six years after crossing the suez canal, egypt
keeps finding new ways to recross it.
by norbert schiller
in the 19th century, the main goal of engineers at work in egypt
was to complete the separation of the sinai peninsula from the egyptian
mainland. but in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the goal
has been to stitch egypt back together again.
the effort at building a permanent crossing of the suez canal began
with the ahmed hamdi tunnel, a feat undertaken by the arab contractors
and the u.k. company tarmac and hailed as state of the art when
it was completed in 1983. another tunnel is being planned, one that
will provide companies with easy access to the new industrial zone
being built east of port said.
yet the image that has most thoroughly captured the imaginations
of engineers and politicians alike is the bridge. first on the list
is the new rail bridge at el ferdan, which will replace the span
destroyed by the 1967 war with israel. more evocative, however,
is the road bridge going up at qantara, 48 and a half kilometers
south of port said.
the £e 630 million, 4-kilometer cable-stayed bridge will
be the world's highest over flat land and one of the few to link
two continents. its 7,400-ton central span will hang 70 meters over
the surface of the canal. and, if properly maintained, the bridge
will stand for more than 100 years.
the idea of a bridge that ties africa to asia, the eastern end
of the arab world to the western, and egypt to the sinai serves
as a powerful metaphor for regional peace and development - one
that egypt's political leadership has seized upon. according to
a project document, the road bridge at qantara will contribute to
the sinai development program and will serve as "the symbolic
bridge of middle east peace."
such metaphors are obviously a reach. the arab free trade agreement
has been signed, and bilateral deals to speed the dismantling of
some tariffs have been concluded in record time. but arab countries
still conduct less than 10 percent of their total trade with each
other. instead, many are in various stages of coming to terms with
their natural trading partner, europe. the giant state infrastructure
projects in the sinai, meanwhile, are being called into question
as never before. and the conclusion of a just and equitable regional
peace is not exactly at hand.
nevertheless, the power of the bridge is hard to question - especially
when standing under the span's massive pylons. in the end, it's
probably enough that it's just a really big bridge.
the task of getting the bridge at qantara ready in time for the
sixth of october celebrations in 2001 falls to noriaki ishitate
(above), project manager for japan's kajima corp., which is leading
a consortium that includes nkk and nippon steel, both also of japan.
the consortium broke ground in august 1998. by the end of 1999,
it had completed the eastern pylon and installed the first piece
of the steel structure that will span the canal. ishitate expected
to have the western pylon ready by september. "everything's
on schedule," ishitate said in january.
the japanese, whose economy depends on open sea lanes, have a long
history of contributing to the development of the canal zone. japan
provided financing and workers to help clean out and expand the
canal after the 1973 war. kajima itself executed a £e 200
million project in the mid-1990s to reseal the ahmed hamdi tunnel,
which, according to a suez canal authority report, was found to
have been leaking "since immediately after completion."
now the japanese government is covering 60 percent of the cost
of the qantara bridge, and the kajima-nkk-nippon steel consortium
is handling the high-profile engineering work. the consortium is
responsible for everything above 50 meters - including part of the
approach (right) and the central span.
the approaches up to the height of 50 meters have been contracted
out to a pair of egyptian companies. arab contractors is handling
the eastern approach, and the nile company for roads & bridges
is handling the western.
those who plan to drive their cars or trucks between the egyptian
mainland and the sinai peninsula will climb for at least one and
a half kilometers on the bridge before ever reaching the suez canal.
each 10 meters of progress will lift their vehicles another 33 centimeters,
until they pass through one of the pylons (near left) at a road
height of more than 70 meters.
the piers (far left) run from 10 meters to nearly 70 meters tall.
they will support four lanes of traffic on a roadbed linking the
ismailia-port said road on the mainland to the el arish road in
the sinai. the lanes should be connected by may 2001.
altogether, the bridge will consume 220,000 cubic meters of concrete
and 36,000 tons of steel reinforcement bars. for those of you following
the battles in the cement industry, the japanese consortium has
opted to buy from tora portland cement rather than nearby suez cement.
"tora is the best," ishitate said. the rebars are coming
from alexandria national iron & steel, where kajima is installing
a new flat-steel production line.
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