CRCICA hosted the first business conference of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) held under the title “The Challenges of the Egyptian Construction Industry and the Role of FIDIC” on 16 April 2016, at Dr. Esmat Abdel Meguid Auditorium, CRCICA Conference Centre.
The conference was held in cooperation with the Egyptian Society of Consultative Engineers (ESCONE), the Egyptian Engineers Syndicate (EES), the Contractual and Legal Aspects in Construction Program (CLAC) and the Society of Construction Law (SCL).
In a balanced structure, expert speakers discussed the challenges of the Egyptian construction industry out of local and international perspectives and evaluate how international construction contracts of wide use as FIDIC contracts are, can help reconcile the needs of local employers and foreign companies implementing major projects in Egypt and whether and to which extent joint efforts are needed for better performance. Beside a pool of Egyptian speakers, experts from Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Romania represented the FIDIC. Also, speakers from Romania and Jordan presented their countries’ experiences in the application of the FIDIC contracts.
The agenda tackled the role of FIDIC in addressing the changes and Challenges in the Egyptian Construction Industry and examined the application of FIDIC Procurement Procedures in major projects. The session entitled “Understanding FIDIC: A Middle Eastern Approach” was a civil-law driven session that discussed the application of FIDIC Contracts in Egypt and other Arab Middle Eastern Countries and the most common amendment to FIDICs’ particular conditions in the Middle East. In an interestingly interactive format, the last working session featured an expert panel discussion on FIDIC Contracts – The Right Tool for Construction Industry in Egypt? Discussions approached the application of the FIDIC contracts in Egypt out of the perspectives of the employer, the contractor and the consultant. Stakeholders’ views were balanced up by FIDIC’s own reflections and the whole panel discussion was orchestrated by an expert legal moderation. The audience was kept engaged, and the discussions were lively and very interesting.
Attended by 100 specialists from 8 countries, the conference was hailed as a huge success for highlighting many key issues, and stirring up lots of constructive debate on FIDIC contracts and their application in Egypt. While the majority of attendees represented the Egyptian construction industry, other participants came from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Jordan, KSA, Russia and Sudan.
The business conference was followed by a round-table discussion between FIDIC’s representatives and a number of Egyptian consultant engineers. Under the title “Consulting Engineering Industry in Egypt and the Role of FIDIC: Developments, Concerns, What’s for the future?”, discussions addressed the practical issues related to the use of FIDIC contracts in Egypt and explored the ways of bettering national understanding of their core concepts through the key role of consultant engineers.
