Egypt Rehires Company To Restore Ancient Pyramid After Allegedly Damaging The Structure in A Prior Project

Last year, I wrote a column about how there appears to be little accountability in government for gross negligence, as shown by the response to the debacle over the rollout of the Obamacare website and billions wasted or lost in Afghanistan and Iraq. Egypt has shown that this is not just a problem in the U.S. Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities, Mamdouh Eldamaty, is under fire after rehiring a company named Shurbagy for restoration of one of Egypt’s oldest pyramids after the firm caused damage and major deterioration to the very same structure in an earlier botched job.

Shurbagy is accused by critics of causing serious damage and the collapse of a section of the famous Step Pyramid of Djoser, located in the Saqqara necropolis. Critics add that the company had no experience in restoring archaeological sites and that all six prior contracts for archaeological projects are under investigation. However, Eldamaty just gave it a new and major contract.

The Pyramid of Djoser was built by the famous builder Imhotep and dates back to the 27th century BC and is 100 years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza.

IN 2011, a British team was working to restore the structure and reportedly prevented a cave in with a huge inflatable balloon. Here is an account of the amazing project. Then funding was cut.

Before becoming the minister, Mamdouh Mohamed Gad Eldamaty was a Professor of Egyptology at the Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University in Cairo.

Source: Higher Learning