news16.09.2022
CES wins FIDIC award for Outstanding Project of the Year
At a gala dinner event held in Geneva on 12 September 2022, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers FIDIC announced the three winners of the Award “Outstanding Project of the Year” in the three categories small, medium and large. Our Managing Director Dr.-Ing. Ralf Meyerhoff participated on behalf of CES and had the honour of receiving the coveted trophy for small projects.
Despite the seamless and highly successful implementation of the project and the great impact it had on the beneficiary population, the award came a bit as a surprise, as Project Director Matthias Fritz pointed out: “The project is not a typical civil engineering project and we prevailed against major international competition. Usually, prizes go to major infrastructure projects such as bridges, airports or tunnels. In our case, however, the special challenges in the context of international cooperation were recognised. The achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals has also become especially prominent.”
Indeed, this year’s 28 shortlisted projects were covering all the 17 SDGs goals across a significant range of project values.
FIDIC CEO Dr. Nelson Ogunshakin emphasized during his speech: “The strength of this year’s winners is a testament to the enduring excellence of the work of consulting engineers and the value that our industry brings to society by delivering excellent construction and infrastructure projects that transform people’s lives.”
Sustainable Land Management in Somaliland is a project to save the Biji catchment area from erosion, and to improve rainwater harvesting and storage of water for drinking, food security and livestock. This catchment area links to aquifers that represent the main water resource for the region’s population, making recharge of these aquifers a vital aim.
Being financed by the BMZ through the German development bank KfW the project was implemented by CES in close cooperation with the client, the Ministry of Agricultural Development. As the national construction companies worked for the first time with FIDIC contracts, CES provided permanent training contributing to a remarkable strengthening of national construction capacity. Furthermore, the challenges in this project arose less from engineering issues than from the management and implementation of the measures, taking into account local and especially social conditions: The determination of type of measures, construction method and materials, location and number required a high level of coordination with local ministries and the rural population as final beneficiaries. The involvement of all stakeholders throughout the project cycle resulted in a high level of acceptance, which was necessary to sustainably improve living conditions in the region.
For us at CES, this award is a major achievement that we are very proud of, but at the same time another spark of motivation to continue giving our best effort for the improvement of living conditions through our infrastructure projects.
We would like to thank the entire CES team, all project participants, in particular the team of the Ministry of Agricultural Development and KfW for the trust we received when implementing this outstanding project.
A detailed description of the project in Somaliland can be found in this article:
