Blaming the Contractors?

The students of the American University in Cairo were promised state of the art facilities, fountains, and restaurants at the new campus. Students, instead have been forced to begin classes in an an unfinished campus thus disrupting the semester.

Angry students, and staff have pointed fingers at the Administration. Many feel the move could have been planned better, or at least postponed. The Administration blames the contractors, and the contractors blame the Administration. According to the Caravan, the contractors were scheduled to complete the project on June 1, 2008. (see article) When it was clear the project would not be done by then, they moved the deadline to September 1. Arnold told angry parents contractors blame delays worker performance levels.

I believe the contractors.

An article in Business Today Egypt claimed in April 2008 that "7,000 perfectly synchronized workers" were working on the completion of the project. (see article) However, on a tour of the Campus Center with Paul Donoghue, Vice President of Planning and Administration, I witnessed a complete lack of enthusiasm.

Workers were milling around, talking and smoking. They sat in groups on the floor laughing. When we walked in, a few returned to the job at hand. But still a good portion just didn't care. They continued their conversation as if nothing was wrong, until they were told to move. One man was caught sleeping on a table in the unfinished Food Court.

I wasn't shocked at what I saw. My family was redoing an apartment this past summer, and without supervision the workers did nothing. Many of my friends who are moving to new homes outside of AUC are experiencing the same difficulties. While there are a great deal of skilled and motivated laborers in Egypt, there are many more that are disillusioned by the harsh living conditions here. Poverty, hopelessness, and difficult working conditions all negatively impact a worker's daily output.