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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Special Focus Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Construction king
Othman Ahmed Othman 1917-1999By Fatemah Farag
"As we weep, we will continue to work, because this is what you taught us." This tribute to the late Othman Ahmed Othman, written on a huge black banner draped over the extension of the Sixth of October Bridge in Nasr City, reflects the sentiments of workers at the Arab Contractors Company. Othman, the man who built one of the largest contracting firms in the Middle East, died on 29 April of a heart attack. He was 82.
Othman was more than a businessman. He was a public figure who played his cards skilfully during some of the most turbulent times in Egypt's contemporary history, becoming a legend. In the public eye he is, at the same time, an ardent nationalist, the "prince of the open-door policy", a self-made millionaire and an enigma.
Othman -- known as El-Moalem (the teacher) to his close friends -- was born to a lower middle class family in April 1917 in a two-room apartment on a narrow alley in Ismailia. Ambition propelled him to Cairo, where he obtained a degree in engineering from Cairo University (then Fouad I) in 1940.
After graduating, Othman worked for nine years as a public contractor, before setting up the Arab Contractors. The company today boasts a portfolio spanning more than 30 countries, including Algeria, Bosnia, Kazakhistan, Libya, Poland, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The company's yellow sphinx insignia is prevalent in Egypt, including on the jerseys of its football team.
The Arab Contractors gained fame for playing a major part in the construction of major national projects, such as the Aswan High Dam, surface-to-air missile bases during the 1968-1969 war of attrition, the Cairo underground, film sets and studios in the Sixth of October City, the foreign ministry building, the Ahmed Hamdi tunnel below the Suez Canal and Cairo's network of fly-overs. The company employs almost 70,000 people and its work volume in 1997-1998 was LE4.7 billion.
Like many companies the Arab Contractors was nationalised in the 1960s by the late President Gamal Abdel-Nasser, but it was the only one that continued to carry the name of its founder. This privilege was granted by the head-of-state in return for Othman's support of Nasser's policies. Othman ceased to own shares in the Arab Contractors, but he remained its chairman until 1973, when he gave up the position, in favour of government posts and a more overt political career.
Othman became a public figure under the late President Anwar El-Sadat, when business boomed following the introduction of Sadat's open-door policies. Othman was one of Sadat's closest associates -- a relationship cemented by the marriage of one of Othman's sons to one of Sadat's daughters. Some claim that Sadat's release of Muslim Brotherhood detainees and his use of the Islamist movement to counter his Nasserist and leftist opponents was inspired by Othman, who is alleged to have Brotherhood sympathies.
Othman held the post of minister of construction from 1974 to 1976, heading a national drive to rebuild the Suez Canal area which had been devastated by the Arab-Israeli wars of 1956, 1967 and 1973. In 1976, he was made assistant for development to the prime minister. He later became a member of parliament for his home-town of Ismailia. Sadat also granted the Arab Contractors a mandate to develop the Salihiya agricultural project and the company began to diversify its activities beyond construction. From 1979 to 1985, Othman was chairman of the Engineers Syndicate.
In the late 1970s, Othman published his memoirs My Experience, which was highly critical of Nasser. Othman came under fire for the book which includes a picture of the late president bending over while getting up to shake Othman's hand and a caption which reads: "When the head of the regime bent to shake Egypt's hand". Not only was the affair discussed in parliament, but Sadat publicly contradicted some of Othman's accounts. The book, dedicated to the youth of Egypt, remains widely available. After Sadat's death, Othman quietly retired from the public eye.
Newspapers devoted whole pages to tributes to Othman from President Hosni Mubarak and leading officials and dignitaries. Othman is survived by five sons and a daughter, as well as his contributions to the construction of a modern Egypt and the legacy and achievements of the Arab Contractors.
