CAIRO: A joint venture between Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) and the Belgian BESIX Group was awarded the contract for phase three of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), a deal valued at $810 million. OCI said in a statement that the 50/50 joint venture was awarded the project on a turnkey basis and the final contract will be signed on Tuesday. The project is expected to be complete by July 2015. Located on the Cairo-Alexandria highway overlooking the Pyramids of Giza, the museum project is 65 percent funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). A joint venture between Hill International and EHAF Consulting Engineers will provide project management services during the design and construction of the project. The GEM will showcase around 100,000 ancient Egyptian artifacts in the main exhibition hall and will also include a conference and learning center. OCI Construction Group Managing Director, Osama Bishai said, “the Construction Group is proud to be part of one of Egypt's future landmark projects. The…museum will be the first iconic building in Egypt's modern history and will create approximately 5,000 jobs during the course of its construction. It will also be a great addition to Egypt's tourism industry.” The museum will host exhibition galleries, a children's museum, and virtual and large format screens with a total floor area of 32,000 square meters. A separate exhibition is dedicated to the Solar boat, which is considered the oldest boat in the world. A conservation center and a conference center will also be housed there, including an auditorium with 1000 seats, three seminar rooms each of a capacity of 250 seats, gallery space, meeting rooms, a business center and press rooms. The largest part of the museum project is designed to host a variety of outdoor activities in an open-air space comprised of the Piazza, an open air exhibition, Dunal Park, Nile Park, Recreational Park, Temple Garden and Land of Egypt Park. A rendered image of the museum's exterior facade.
