Editorial

The ancient Egyptians worshiped the Nile as a god. The dead could only reach the afterlife by taking to its waters. Even time itself was counted in Nile years: the year began with the start of the flood—every 365 days.

To this day, the Nile remains the lifeblood of Egypt: a total of 97 percent of the population live in its valley. The new retaining weir built by Bilfinger Berger at Naga Hammadi will deliver water further into the country’s interior and improve the lives of countless people. To carry out the work, Bilfinger Berger had to divert the ancient river from its thousand-year-old bed—an endeavor that involved more or less equal parts of ingenuity and impudence, as author Philipp Maußhardt describes. Other articles in this issue also tell of the struggles between man and nature: the inhabitants of a tiny North Friesian island who defy the North Sea, engineers who are overcoming one of the most geologically challenging areas of the Alps and researchers at CERN in Geneva, who hope to replicate the Big Bang.

Mankind is reshaping the world in order to make better use of it. In many areas, Bilfinger Berger is contributing to the sustained alteration of our habitat, fully aware of the special responsibility this implies. It is a responsibility that we, together with our clients, have embraced.

KENNETH REID
Member of the Executive Board of Bilfinger Berger AG