Alexandria is the second capital of the Arab Republic of Egypt, therefore, it is important and ranks second in terms of population and building density. It lies on the western banks of the Damietta branch to the Rosetta Canal.
The city of Alexandria is the second capital of the Arab Republic of Egypt, therefore, it is important and ranks second in terms of population and building density. It lies on the western banks of the Damietta branch to the Rosetta Canal.
It is one of the most important ports of Egypt because it is the gateway to the east and west of the Mediterranean, which makes it a center for maritime transport in Egypt and the largest port in terms of exports and imports.
Recently, there is a lot of talk about leaning buildings in Alexandria. Some contractors attributed the problem to the slop of the soil towards the sea in Alexandria, which constitutes a very dangerous issue. But this opinion is very wrong because the problem has other dimensions, where Alexandria has advanced rank at the national level in the percentage of violating buildings.
The reasons for this include the spread of violations during construction that have become a major phenomenon during construction, as well as non-compliance with specifications and designs approved by building code and ignoring their updates over time. In addition to that, there is no commitment from contractors to abide by specifications and designs in order to reduce costs through the use of substandard materials or replacing them with others whose specifications differ from those approved by building codes.
During the period of lawlessness, when there were no laws to control the construction of buildings, it was mainly the "fictitious person" who appeared. He is a criminal person, who offers to build ten additional floors on top of the existing building to the property owner. All violations will be in his name. In this case, it will be difficult to criminally prosecute him, and it indeed happens.
There has been a lot of construction in this illegal way, far from actual engineering supervision. This confirms the absence of all technical criteria and requirements and standard specifications. Therefore, when referring to the origin of this issue it is to start with soil surveys to inspect the soil stress and strength, then undertake structural and architectural engineering.
Actual engineering supervision is one of the most important basics for preserving real estate wealth, where the engineering supervision certificate approved by the Syndicate of Engineers is one of the most important requirements for obtaining a building license.
However, unfortunately, some owners resort to illegal supervision certificates to save engineering supervision fees, and some of them also save the fees of sensors reports by using false reports, which negatively affects the safety of construction. The measures that aim to save fees are negatively affecting the construction safety of buildings.
The new building requirements for residential buildings include the necessity of contracting with a supervising engineer and contracting with a contractor approved by the Egyptian Contractors Union. All these measures aim to retain real estate wealth and the structural integrity of buildings and lives. The problem of poor structural safety in residential buildings is in the systems meant to enforce laws, not in the lack of laws and legislation.
However, the implementation of mitigation measures is not only the responsibility of municipalities, engineers, or new cities agencies; it is also the responsibility of citizens themselves, whether they are builders or developers. The reason is the proliferation of brokers who sell fake building permits and other construction-related certificates, which represents a major setback.
Structural safety can be ensured only with awareness and participation from citizens, developers, and building owners. Even if the state sets requirements by law and organizes the construction of buildings in order to ensure structural safety, it is difficult to complete the system without awareness or participation on the part of citizens, developers, and building owners. To ensure that the system succeeds, it is necessary to raise the efficiency of municipalities' engineers as well as new agencies.
Their salaries and capabilities must also be reviewed so that they can follow up on buildings and constructions. The problem of shortage of engineers in the municipalities and agencies is a big problem, where each engineer is required to follow up on a huge number of constructions. Therefore, to increase the number of engineers in the municipalities, the municipalities must be completely restructured, creating incentives for them, raising their efficiency, continuing their training, and periodic following up.
This is because the urbanization system, although it depends on the structural safety of buildings to preserve lives and property, it depends on the awareness of citizens, the developers, consultants, the contractor, and municipal engineers because they are all one system.
Awareness of a citizen to follow up with his interests by applying for a building permit for his home or shop, as well as being aware of the importance of monitoring construction under the supervision of a consultant so that he can live in security.
Developers are also required to ensure that their projects meet safety standards and construction principles.
Consulting offices must design properly and follow up with all consulting work and testing laboratories.
And finally, contractors must have good technical staff who are qualified in building procedures and construction materials so they can provide good quality construction.
Therefore, our destination is the same.