January/February 2021 - 53

EMAD SHARIF, CHAIR

DFI Middle East
Since COVID-19
concerns began
last March, a
remarkable slowdown of construction projects has hit
the Middle East, which is known for its
megaprojects and complex geotechnical
and deep foundation needs.
Construction activities have, however,
resumed at a slow but increasing rate in
many countries in the region.
Large developments are taking
place in Saudi Arabia, mainly to
develop the coastal area along the Red
Sea as a superluxurious tourism zone.
Egypt, meanwhile, has become an
attractive area for the geotechnical and
foundation industry due to several
mega-infrastructure developments
that are occurring.
Other areas in the Gulf, including
Kuwait and the UAE, are preparing to
resume development plans at a larger
scale in the near future.

Upcoming Events
The DFI Middle East chapter (DFIME)
has established a strong presence in the
area as a leading organization for
planning successful geotechnical

events and programs for more than 10
years. DFIME has more than 150
members that come from different
nationalities and countries, such as the
United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain in the
Gulf area, as well as Iraq, Egypt and
Lebanon. Unfortunately, all of the
chapter's 2020 planned activities had to
be postponed because of the global
pandemic and associated difficulties in
organizing public events. However, in
2021, DFIME is planning two events.
The DFI Middle East Conference is
being held on February 16-18, 2021, as
an online conference using the
GoToMeeting platform. (See page 35)
The theme of the fifth conference is
" Geotechnical Engineering for
Delivering Sustainable, Cost-Effective
Projects. " The technical program
involves about 20 presentations from
speakers throughout the Middle East,
Asia, North America and Europe. They
will cover a variety of topics, including
g ro u n d i m p ro v e m e n t a n d d e e p
foundation design and construction. For
instance, talks will be given on
numerical simulation of jacked pile
installations in sand, on the use of

REGIONAL

REPORT

micropiles for emergency bridge
repairs, and on using chemicals to
minimize the detrimental role of clays
in deep mixing.
Two keynote speakers have been
invited to address selected topics. The
keynote on day one is being delivered
by Professor Rolf Katzenbach, Dr.-Ing,
founder and co-owner of Katzenbach
Engineers, past director of the Institute
and Laboratory of Geotechnics at the
Technische Universität Darmstadt,
Germany, and a board member of DFI
Europe. His presentation will address
sustainable foundations of high-rise
buildings in soft soil.
The keynote speaker on day two is
Dr. Baran Ozsoy from AECOM. A
seismologist, Ozsoy will address the
latest experiences with recent megadevelopments in Saudi Arabia.
For the first time at this DFIME
annual conference, a special session for
civil engineering students is planned,
which will introduce the scope of
geotechnical engineering career options
by selected specialists from the
industry. The student program is being
organized in collaboration with the
International Society for Soil Mechanics
and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).
Visit www.dfi.org/DFIMEC2021
for more detailed information on the
conference program, including registration and sponsorship opportunities.
DFIME is also planning to support
the 4th GeoMEast (www.geomeast.org)
International Conference and Exhibition in Cairo in 2021; however, the dates
and details have yet to be determined.

First Calcareous Sand Study
In my last regional report, I announced
the formation of a committee on
calcareous sand.
The DFIME committee includes
about 20 members from leading
geotechnical consulting firms, ground
improvement contractors and other
DEEP FOUNDATIONS * JAN/FEB 2021 * 53
http://www.dfi.org/DFIMEC2021 http://www.geomeast.org
January/February 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January/February 2021
