Hassan Allam
Encyclopedia
Childhood and early career
Hassan Allam was born in the city of Port SaidPort Said
Port Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...
and subsequently moved to the Upper Egyptian town of Al Minya with his family. His father owned a small shop that sold construction materials including tiles and ceramics imported from Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. Allam attended primary school but did not continue his education, joining his father's business instead.
In 1923 at the age of 19, he immigrated to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
where he formed a small informal contracting outfit. His career did not really take off until, in 1936, he founded Hassan Mohammed Allam & Co. for General Contracting - a limited partnership
Limited partnership
A limited partnership is a form of partnership similar to a general partnership, except that in addition to one or more general partners , there are one or more limited partners . It is a partnership in which only one partner is required to be a general partner.The GPs are, in all major respects,...
company. Despite having received no formal education in the field of construction, his managerial and technical
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
expertise were substantial. He was also widely popular with construction labourers and engineers.
First major contracts
In 1938, King Farouk was on his way to Ismalia when he was injured in a car accident and was whisked to the nearby village of KassassinKassassin
Kassassin is a village of Lower Egypt by rail, west of Ismailia on the Suez Canal. At this place, on 28 August and again on 9 September 1882 the British force operating against Urabi Pasha was attacked by the Egyptians. Both attacks were repulsed....
to be treated in a small medical facility. As a result of the incident, the King ordered that a hospital be built in the area. Hassan Allam thus landed his first major contract and El Kassaseen Hospital was built on the Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
-to-Ismaïlia
Ismaïlia
-Notable natives:*Osman Ahmed Osman, a famous and influential Egyptian engineer, contractor, entrepreneur, and politician, was born in this town on 6 April 1917....
agricultural road. Other early contracts included the Mebara hospital in Port Said
Port Said
Port Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...
, a power station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
in Damanhur
Damanhur
Damanhur is a city in Lower Egypt, and the capital of the Beheira Governorate. It is located northwest of Cairo, and E.S.E. of Alexandria, in the middle of the western Nile Delta....
, and the first Egyptian oil refinery
Oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
in Suez
Suez
Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
. His firm was beginning to seriously compete with El Abd Pasha, Ahmad Bakir (a road contractor) and Ali Ibrahim Pasha (whose work include the Television Building and the Tahrir Office Complex in Cairo). Eventually the company became one of the largest in the construction field in the country together with Osman Ahmad Osman's Arab Contractors Co..
Early supporter of Anwar el-Sadat
Allam even had a chance to protect Anwar el-Sadat in his early years. In the 1940s, Sadat in an effort to evade political persecution, disguised himself as a truck driver and took a job in Hassan Allam's company. Sadat later became the third president of EgyptPresident of Egypt
The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the head of state of Egypt.Under the Constitution of Egypt, the president is also the supreme commander of the armed forces and head of the executive branch of the Egyptian government....
.
Adjusting to political change over the years
After the 1952 revolution, the company continued to thrive and executed a number of major roads such as the Ismalia-Al 'ArishAl 'Arish
Arish or el-Arīsh is the capital and largest city of the Egyptian governorate of North Sinai, lying on the Mediterranean coast of the Sinai peninsula, northeast of Cairo. Al `Arīsh is distinguished by its clear blue water, widespread fruitful palmy wood on its coast, and its soft white sand...
, Suez-Marsa Alam
Marsa Alam
Marsa Alam is a town in south-eastern Egypt, located on the western shore of the Red Sea. It is currently seeing fast increasing popularity as a tourist destination and development following the opening of Marsa Alam International Airport in 2001....
, and Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
-Marsa Matruh
Marsa Matruh
Marsa Matrouh is a Mediterranean seaport and the capital of the Matrouh Governorate in Egypt. It is west of Alexandria and 222 km from Sallum, on the main highway from the Nile Delta to the Libyan border. Another highway leads south from the town, toward the Western Desert and the oases of...
highways. Many projects were also completed in Port Said
Port Said
Port Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...
that included a large cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
and a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
. Prior to the construction of the Aswan High Dam, the company was in charge of building a new community for the Nubian people whose villages lay in the area that was later to become Lake Nasser
Lake Nasser
Lake Nasser is a vast reservoir in southern Egypt, and northern Sudan, and is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. Strictly, "Lake Nasser" refers only to the much larger portion of the lake that is in Egyptian territory , with the Sudanese preferring to call their smaller body of water...
.
In 1961, the company was nationalized under President Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
’s new socialist policies to become Nasr General Contracting - Hassan Mohammed Allam with Hassan Allam losing ownership and becoming its general manager.
In 1972, taking advantage of the Infitah
Infitah
The Infitah was Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's policy of "opening the door" to private investment in Egypt in the years following the 1973 October War with Israel...
or open-door policies
Open Door Policy
The Open Door Policy is a concept in foreign affairs, which usually refers to the policy in 1899 allowing multiple Imperial powers access to China, with none of them in control of that country. As a theory, the Open Door Policy originates with British commercial practice, as was reflected in...
adopted by President Anwar el-Sadat’s government, he established his second company - Hassan Allam Sons
Hassan Allam Sons
Hassan Allam Sons is one of the largest private sector construction companies in Egypt. Competitors include Orascom Construction Industries , SIAC and CCC. The company was established in 1975. Its founder, Hassan Allam, was one of the pioneers of the construction sector in Egypt. The company...
. Shortly after, the new company submitted a bid for building a large sewage network in Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. However Hassan Allam did not live to see the result of the bid. His funeral was held at the Omar Makram Mosque in Tahrir Square and was attended by thousands of mourners. The crowd extended from the mosque almost up to the Ramesses
Ramesses
Ramesses is the name conventionally given in English transliteration to 11 Egyptian pharaohs of the later New Kingdom period. The name essentially translates as "Born of the sun-god Ra"....
Hilton
Hilton Hotels
Hilton Hotels & Resorts is an international chain of full-service hotels and resorts founded by Conrad Hilton and now owned by Hilton Worldwide. Hilton hotels are either owned by, managed by, or franchised to independent operators by Hilton Worldwide. Hilton Hotels became the first coast-to-coast...
.
There are currently two streets named after Hassan Allam; one in the Heliopolis
Heliopolis (Cairo Suburb)
Modern Heliopolis is a district in Cairo, Egypt. The city was established in 1905 by the Heliopolis Oasis Company, headed by the Belgian industrialist Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Empain, as well as Boghos Nubar, son of the Egyptian Prime Minister Nubar Pasha.-History:The Baron Empain, a well known...
district and the other in Downtown Cairo
Downtown Cairo
Downtown Cairo, , has been the urban center of Cairo, Egypt since the late 19th century, when the district was designed and built.-History:The area, designed by prestigious French architects was commissioned by Khedive Ismail...
.
External links
- http://www.allamsons.com/