Eng. Mohsen Salah – CEO and Chairman of the Arab Contractors Company and Mr. Talal Omar – the Regional Director for the Guinness World Records in the Middle East hold a press conference after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi inaugurated Rod El Farag Axis and the “Tahya Masr” Bridge.
In his speech, Eng. Mohsen Salah thanked President Abdel Fattah El Sisi for his continuous support to accomplish this giant project. He thanked the Engineering Authority for the Armed Forces which supervising the projects execution, and thanked the workers of the Arab Contractors Company for working day and night since 2016 to implement this great achievement by working for 24 hours and during the holidays including the religious and national occasions.
Mr. Talal Omar – the Regional Director for the Guinness World Records in the Middle East stated that the record is for the world’s widest cable stayed bridge in the category of engineering records. The previous record was for bridge in Canada with 65,2m width. He added that today we are pleased to announce that “Tahya Masr” bridge has the new record with 67,3m width which is an achievement entitled by the name of the Egyptian Arab Contractors Company and added to Egypt’s book of records.
Eng. Mohsen Salah said that the project duration was 4 years with an average of 4000 engineers and technicians. He added that the first duration was the longest one that the design of this type of bridges took a long span of time and the 4 years are considered a record with the testimony of all the foreigners and the consultants that it exceeds all the international records. He said that we intended to record this achievement from the live reality which is a fixed presentation of the bridge not just to be mentioned historically … it was through a realistic presentation under the direct supervision of Guinness World Records.
Regarding the comparison between the new and the previous record, Mr. Talal Omar – the Regional Director for the Guinness World Records in the Middle East stated that the record is for one element, such as the length or the width regardless of time or cost. For example, Burj Khalifa is the tallest in the world and “Tahya Masr” bride is the widest in the world.
The Regional Director for the Guinness World Records in the Middle East declared that the communication between the GWR and the Arab Contractors Company started two years ago. The talk was about the designs of the bridge and its presentation to specialists from international and global companies and experts from the Egyptian universities, he pointed out that the communication tacked the talk about the last record for a suspension or cable stayed bridge in the world, especially that the achievement of the record depends on the presentation, therefore the bridge has to be cable stayed not ordinary one.
He said that “Tahya Masr” bridge is considered one of the important achievements for the human element in Egypt. He expressed his happiness in his presence in Egypt the land of civilization to attend the record of a new record. He added that Guinness World Records recorded thousands of international achievements in various categories over the past six decades. He added that the common factor of all these categories is the distinctive human element, and pointed out that this element seeks excellence which we tackled in the achievement that we have seen in Egypt today.
Regarding the obstacles facing the implementation of the project, Eng. Mohsen Salah said that the company faced some obstacles in implementation and overcame it by the assistance of the engineering expertise represented by Moharram-Bakhoum Office, Dr. Fathi Saad Office and one of the international offices for some technical and technological reviews of this type of bridges which needs to take some risks for its implementation and working on reducing these risks till it is completely vanished. He stated that the project is a new asset for the company and a new line in its heritage of records which will raise the company's international ranking in the worldwide rankings for the contracting companies.