The CIArb Egypt Branch organized jointly with CRCICA a webinar titled “Variations After the Contract Completion Date – The ‘Gross’ vs ‘Net’ Debate” on 15 August 2020. Unlike other events, the webinar was conducted as a mock arbitration hearing where the key players (the speakers) were the claimant: Dr. Waleed El Nemr, Contracts Director of Hill International (Africa) LTD, Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Construction Engineering, the American University in Cairo), the respondent: Eng. Amr Askar, Host Country Contracts Manager, CDM Smith, and the sole arbitrator (Moderator): Eng. Mahmoud El Saadany, Contracts, Commercial and Project Management Consultant.
The case centred on a debatable topic in the construction industry concerning changes issued after the contract completion date and the extent to which an employer is entitled to apply liquidated damages on a contractor, who receives a late change and clings onto this last-minute change as his rescue from the application of liquidated damages. The contract used for the case was the FIDIC 2017 Red Book. The parties in dispute raised several arguments rooted in contract, law and international practice to argue their respective positions. The webinar was attended by 234 participants from 20 countries; namely Bangladesh, Burundi, Canada, Egypt, Germany, India, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United Kingdom.
