Bauer Egypt, the third oldest overseas subsidiary of Bauer Spezialtiefbau, is currently involved in several projects in the country, including the construction of two new tunnels below the expanded Suez Canal east of the city of Ismailia and the Cairo Metro extension project.

For the Suez Canal tunnels, Bauer has been carrying out the necessary specialist foundation engineering works since May 2015 for the new road tunnel up to 25 m below the Suez Canal bed. It has constructed 120,000 sq m of diaphragm wall up to a depth of 50 m for the future tunnel entrances and exits, as well as about 1,250 sq m of soft gel blanket covering.

For the ventilation system, Bauer has constructed four diaphragm wall shafts with a depth of up to 85 m and a diameter of 21 m. Among other equipment, two BC 40 trench cutters were used, one on an MC 128 and an MC 96 duty-cycle crane, as well as two BG 28 drilling rigs with mast extensions for the execution of the soft-gel blanket.

Bauer Egypt has commenced the ground freezing work required for the construction of four cross passages between the two nearly 6-km-long twin-tube Ismailia road tunnel under the Suez Canal.

Meanwhile, for the past several years, Bauer has been involved in the large-scale Cairo Metro extension project, which is expected to significantly ease traffic in the Egyptian capital according to Bauer Egypt managing director Mohamed Mostafa.

The metro carries around 3.5 million passengers every day. Bauer has been involved with the development since 2008, when construction started on the multi-phase Line 3 project, with a large number of its cutters used to build the walls of the underground stations.

“In Phase One, Bauer Egypt cut the diaphragm walls for four of the five stations; in Phase Two, all four station walls were executed by Bauer; and for Phase Four, which was moved forward, the company once again executed the diaphragm walls for all four stations from 2014 to 2017,” says Mostafa.

In September 2017, Bauer Egypt started foundation engineering work for Phase Three, which will run below the Nile and includes six underground stops. A 250,000-sq-m diaphragm wall with a depth of up to 83 m and about 180,000 cu m of underground sealing are to be constructed for this purpose.

Mostafa says four BC 40 trench cutters and one BC 30 cutter unit mounted on Bauer MC 128 and MC 96 duty-cycle cranes are being used. “The underground sealing element will be executed using five BG 28 drilling rigs with extended masts for drilling up to 83 m. This work is expected to be completed in April 2019.”

Apart from these projects, Bauer Egypt has been involved in the construction of numerous bridges on the Nile, the first-ever bridge over the Suez Canal, and several barrages. Its long list of past and present projects includes many inner-city specialist foundation engineering projects – often in Cairo, where the company with its almost 1,500 employees has its headquarters.

Germany-based Bauer Spezialtiefbau, the original parent company of the Bauer Group, has been a major driving force in the development of specialist foundation engineering. It carries out all foundation engineering activities, primarily for excavation pits, foundations, cut-off walls and ground improvements around the world.