From 29 October to 2 November, the German Embassy in Cairo is holding its ‘German Week in Cairo’. A number of cultural and scientific activities are organised in cooperation with more than ten German institutions which aim at propagating their different programmes in Egypt so that Egyptians may get better acquainted with Germany.
The German week’s activities include hosting the world-renown Egyptian-born German construction engineer Hany Azer, the wizard of construction and tunnels, in two meeting on 29 and 30 October at al-Nil club in Mansoura, and Manoufiya University within the project of al-Mulhim or (The Inspirer).
Meeting Azer comes within the Tahrir Lounge Goethe Project which aims at helping youth discover their talents and improve their creativity to contribute to change for a better future, through conducting various activities in different fields. In addition the project supports youth initiatives and dynamic student activities in order for them to play positive and active roles within the community.
Hany Azer was born in the mid-Nile Delta town of Tanta in 1948, and graduated from Ain Shams’s Faculty of Engineering in 1973. He then left to Germany to study civil engineering at the Bokhom University.
Azer began his career with constructing the Dortmund underground metro tunnel in 1979, and went on to gain a reputation as a legendary tunnel builder; he has constructed almost half the number of tunnels in Berlin.
He was the civil engineer who headed the construction of the tunnel beneath Berlin’s Tiergarten in 1994, after which he was assigned with the near-impossible mission of building Berlin’s train station in record time for the city to host the world cup games. German engineers had refused to work against that deadline which they saw as impossible, but Azer was able to do it.
The building work took place in several stages. In 1995 the construction of the Tiergarten tunnels began, and this work was finished in 2005 with the completion of the last station tunnel. The tunnels provide four tubes for long-distance and regional services and two tubes in a separate alignment for the U-Bahn, in addition to a road tunnel ventilated by a 60-metre-high tower completed in 2004. During its construction, the course of the Spree had to be diverted (1996–1998).
Construction of the bridges for the new S-Bahn route began in 2001. These needed to span not only the entire length of the station, but also the adjacent Humboldthafen port, and are 450 metres long. Because of the alignment of the S-Bahn they are curved, and each pair of tracks has a separate bridge. Bridges of this type had never been built before, and represented a special challenge for Azer, the chief construction engineer since 2001.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel honoured him on 26 May 2006, at the inauguration celebration of the Berlin train station, for his efforts and services to Germany, with the Medal of the German Republic. He also received one of Berlin’s most respected distinctions: the Verdienstorden des Landes Berlin (Merit of the State of Berlin), for outstanding service to the State.
In Egypt, he was honoured by President Hosni Mubarak on 1 October 2006. He is today on President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi’s Advisory Council of Egypt’s scientists and experts.
Watani International
29 October 2017