Aswan is famous for its granite, which the pharaohs used to build obelisks, sculptures and temples. 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.

The 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.

"This project was located in Aswan city, an area with extremely hard ground conditions that often create technical challenges," explained Mohamed Mostafa, business line director for Land Site Characterisation at Fugro. "Fugro's drilling experience and capabilities in hard rock layers surmounted these challenges and led to the 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.