WATER TREATMENT IN EGYPT

Egypt and India share a lot in common : Both were called third world countries, with wishy washy politicians throughout their independent history,  choosing to sit on the wall, calling themselves Non-aligned.  People are friendly, loud, boisterous : and a metro city like Cairo is full of confidence tricksters as in our great cities, a fact I discovered through a first hand experience.

 WATER TREATMENT PLANT IN EGYPT – Part 1.

It was in the year 1985, in the era of the Telex and Long distance Telephony ( notoriously unreliable both in India and Egypt ) that Voltas International Limited in Bombay received an enquiry for setting up a Water Treatment Plant outside Cairo, from a wheeler dealer engineer by name El Sherbini. Apparently he must have got our reference from one of the Tata Companies already established in Egypt – Tata Motors or Tata Exports.  Apart from his address, telephone number and telex number, not much more was known about this prospective Egyptian middleman for a large size contract with the Cairo Water Authority : he claimed to have good contacts  in the Government  through his Brother in Law, Dr. Abdullah, Director General of the Cairo Water Authority until his retirement a few months back.

The Management Think Tank at Voltas determined that this was a fit prospect to pursue.  They averred Egypt and India had a lot in common : both were developing third world countries from a similar background and colonial past ( viz. British Empire),  were partners in the Non - Aligned Movement under Nehru and Gamal Abdel Nasser, and most importantly  shared a common culture of nepotism and corruption both within and outside  the Government.   Gosh ! to think that a simple matter of a WTP in Egypt could precipitate such deep research into history, politics and culture of a nation !

Be that as it may, I was the chosen one, as head of the Environmental Dept. in Voltas to make the trip to Cairo to do the wheeling and dealing with Er. Sherbini and his wise Brother in Law, while at the same time inspect the site of the WTP, if time permitted. 

Day 1

Accomodation was booked for me by the good Er. Sherbini in Hotel Concorde, a modest establishment next to the Cairo Sheraton, on El Tahrir street, the river Nile a stone’s throw away.  Dr. Abdullah, the trusted B-I-L was detailed to pick me up from the airport and deposit me at the hotel.  After a long and arduous flight on Gulf Air via Bahrain, Cairo International hove into view.  The first jolt came when I was obliged to change 30 USD into Egyptian pounds ( LE)  before exiting the terminal.  Once outside, there was no sign of a waiting Dr. Abdullah.  I waited in vain for about half an hour, then finally took a taxi to Hotel Concorde in Dokki.  I had been forewarned by a good friend ( Ganesh Prabhu, my erstwhile colleague in Dorr-Oliver) to be extremely wary of the Cairenes in general and the taxi drivers in particular.  Pick pockets were reputedly more light fingered than even those on the Local trains in Bombay. Without further alarm however, I reached Hotel Concorde.  But to my dismay, I discovered there was no booking in my name, and no accommodation was available, all rooms having been taken. 

I did the next best thing : I booked a room for the next day, and proceeded to call up Er. Sherbini and remonstrate with him the plight I had been pushed into.  But call after call got me nowhere, except that I learnt the Arabic equivalent of  “This telephone is temporarily out of order”, from a tinkling female voice with a merry undertone.  The kindly receptionist at Hotel Concorde suggested I tried sending my message by Telex instead, and it worked. By this time, I had a raging headache to contend with, and the same kindly soul put me on a taxi and directed me to a nearby hotel for my overnight stay.

Day 2

Er. Sherbini and Dr. Abdullah turned up promptly the next day at Hotel Concorde, with profuse apologies for the fiasco the previous day.  The contrast between the two could not have been more telling : One middle aged, shifty eyed with a beak nose and street fighter mien. The other elderly, composed, dignified and soft spoken.  I let bygones be bygones, and it being a holiday,  El Sherbini took us to his home for further discussions on the project.  I explained to the gentlemen details of our proposal for the Water Treatment Plant.  The Site visit they said was not necessary, as our designs had taken into account all necessary site specific precautions.

At this time, the Lady of the house came in with cups of freshly brewed coffee, and a cryptic exhortation to me to drink it up and leave only the dregs behind : I discovered the import of this entreaty soon enough.

The charming lady proceeded to read the patterns of the coffee dregs in the cup, and in perfect Arabic English prophesied a sea change coming in my life : a totally new environment, new friends, a new locale, all for a brighter future.  I did not give much credence to such rank hocus pocus at that time, being by nature and training a rationalist, but not to offend, thanked the good lady for her kind divinations.

( Strange coincidence or not, within a few months thereafter, I did quit Voltas, moved to Bangalore from Bombay and set up Ecotech Engineering, now just over 25 years old, and over 250 strong)

The day’s work done, the three of us menfolk retired to their Club in midtown Cairo for a sundowner and dinner.

I had traveled several times previously to Yemen, and have broken bread with Arab hosts in community meals, where one partook of the food from a single Oversized plate piled with goodies, around which sat the diners exchanging pleasantries ( It is customary to leave business talks for the qat sessions in Yemen  - see A JOINT VENTURE COMPANY IN YEMEN )

The waiter at the club now placed in front of us a huge big plate heavy laden with assorted grilled meats of various descriptions, including camel meat, I daresay.  Just when I was wondering how the three of us were going to do justice to this plentiful repast, came two more plates of the same for my companions at dinner !  Egyptians certainly are voracious meat eaters.  I discovered also that Egyptians do not count themselves to be arabs, although they speak the arabic language (and hence my misjudgement in equating Yemenis with Egyptians in their communal eating habits).

DAY 3  - FIRST HALF

The morning of the next day was spent visiting the Cairo Water Authority, and submitting our proposal for the Water Treatment Plant tender, while Dr. Abdullah exchanged pleasantries with his erstwhile colleagues in the Authority.  I could gauge that the Dr. was held in high esteem by the officials in the Authority, he having spent the greater part of his career in Government service, and also possibly enjoying good political support.  I was inwardly increasingly hopeful of bagging our first contract in Egypt.

( Alas, for reasons of  the fickle French Government  backing out of funding the project, the WTP tender was eventually scrapped )

 ………To Be continued

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                               October 06, 2011