News: French Group Egis to redevelop Misrata City, Libya

French Group Egis will be in charge of the Misrata (Libya) reconstruction plan, French news agency AFP reports. Misrata is one of the Libyan cities most heavily damaged in the war.
Before the civil war, Misrata enjoyed its modern infrastructure: new roads, electricity and communication.
Misrata, also spelled Misurata or Misratah is situated 187 km (116 mi) to the east of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. With a population just over 350,000, Misrata is the third largest city in Libya after Tripoli and Benghazi. The Key element to this city is its geographic characteristics: Misrata is bounded by the sea to the north and east and to the south by golden sands dotted with palm and olive trees. Other particularity: green plains surrounding the center of the town.
Misrata urban space consists mostly of modern buildings, wide streets, large factories such as the iron and steel complex and carpet and textile factories and a number of establishments, companies and trade centers.

Misrata, Libya. Credit: Google

It will be interesting to follow whose plan the French group Egis will implement to reconstruct the city. How to erase profound impacts of the civil war? It is obvious Egis will be confront with a set of constraints such as population growth, economic recovery, global warming, well-being, healthcare, education, remodernisation of infrastructure, etc.
Indeed, given the participation of Egis, it will not be surprising to note an acceleration of population growth attracted by a rapid redevelopment of the city. And if so, this may have a serious impact on the spatial but also social and economic dynamics of Misrata in the future. Hence the importance of implementing a reconstruction plan that measures all pressures — be they positive or negative — that will shape the city in the future.

Who are they?
Egis, a subsidiary of the French "Caisse des Dépôts" and "Iosis Partenaires" (shareholdin by executive partners and employees) on a 75%-25% basis, is a consulting and engineering group working in the fields of construction for transport, urban development, buildings, industry, water, the environment and energy. The group is also active in project financing and road and airport operation.
The new group results from the merger, on 1st January 2011, of Egis, a leader in infrastructure engineering and Iosis, a French leader in construction and civil nuclear engineering.
With 11,000 employees, of whom 7,000 in engineering, and a turnover of €800 million in 2010, the new goup is present in over 100 countries and has around 50 offices in France.
It is the only French construction engineering group amongst the first ten European groups and the first twenty groups in the world.
Close to local and national stakeholders, Egis proposes engineering services in the field of urban development, from buildings to transport infrastructure: hospitals, tertiary buildings, stadiums, museums, stations, airports, tramways, etc. It is an internationally-recognised actor for its experience in major transport and civil engineering, etc. Its state-of-the-art expertise also covers sectors such as water, environment and landscaping.

Source: AFP, Wikipedia