With workers returning to construction sites following the relaxation of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt, activity resumed in the real estate and contracting sectors, industry spokespersons interviewed by Zawya Projects said.
Construction is the only sector that can work 24 hours a day during the three stages, even during curfew hours, according to government rules.
Elia Saber, executive manager of AlKharafi National, told Zawya Projects that work at the project sites is continuing with necessary preventive measures in place to protect against the spread of COVID-19. He said the company is taking all measures such as insisting workers wear face masks and maintain hygiene. The company also provides transportation for workers from their homes to the site and physical distancing between workers is strictly maintained.
Constriction activity at Akam Developments’ sites has also resumed, said the company’s sales director Mohamed Amer. He said the company does not allow workers to leave the site for a period of 15 days, and when the worker returns from the vacation, a medical examination is done to ensure that he is not infected. He added that the company also transfers the salary to the workers’ families as one of the precautionary measures to control COVID-19.
Al-Borouj Misr’s Commercial Sector Manager Karim Mamoun and Ahmed El-Attal, El Attal Holding’s chairman confirmed that work is continuing at their respective construction sites with precautions in place to safeguard worker’s health.
The Egyptian government has directed the companies working in the construction and contracting sectors to display awareness posters to inform workers of the preventive measures, in addition to distributing masks and disinfectants to workers, carrying out temperature screening, and providing each worker with personal tools to avoiding the exchange of tools between workers.
Egypt’s health ministry has set out a three-stage plan that will see life gradually returning to normal as the country learns to live with the coronavirus.
Workplaces must operate with a maximum capacity of 30 percent for every shift in the first stage, 50 percent during the second stage, and full capacity in the third stage.
Zawya
03/06/2020
