Hill International Tapped for $5B Revamp in Egypt

By Eric Althoff

PHILADELPHIA and CAIRO—Construction risk management firm Hill International has agreed to oversee the $5 billion renovation of the Kasr Al-Ainy Hospitals for Cairo University, located half a world away from the firm’s headquarters in Philadelphia.

Hill International has been hired to provide project management of the design, procurement and execution phases of the multibillion-dollar renovation, whose aim is to change the hospital’s focus from general care to offering specialized departments for individual patient needs.  Furthermore, the renovation will increase the available space at the hospital by 300 percent.

All of the buildings of the current Kasr Al-Ainy facility are to be renovated, and Hill will also oversee any new construction that might yet be needed.

Hill Senior Vice President North Africa Waleed Abdel Fattah said that the Kasr Al-Ainy healthcare facility was founded in 1827, and that the renovations are needed to bring the facility’s care capabilities into the modern era.

“Our team will bring Hill’s healthcare best practices from the region and around the world to help ensure the vision for Kasr Al-Ainy is realized safely, on time, and within budget,” Fattah said in a statement about the project.

Added Hill CEO Raouf Ghali: “Kasr Al-Ainy is the latest evidence of the strength of healthcare in Egypt specifically and of the Egyptian economy in general.  Our company continues to see mega-projects in healthcare and other sectors break ground after long periods of negotiation and coordination among various stakeholders.

“I expect similar progress on other healthcare projects across North Africa and the Middle East to continue for the foreseeable future.”

The 3,200-bed hospital facility is part of the University’s Faculty of Medicine campus, situated in downtown Cairo.  The hospital says it takes in over 7 million patients per year, and performs some 2.2 million X-rays, 80,000 CT scans and 45,000 ultrasounds annually.

Hill International employs nearly 3,000 professionals at its 69 worldwide offices.