Shoreline Maintenance and Restoration – Stella & Diplomatic, Sidi Abdel Rahman Bay

1. Project Location & Context

• Location: North Coast of Egypt, Sidi Abd El Rahman area (serving DIPLO and STELLA coastal resorts). • Executing Contractor: Homan Group / HOMAN Civil Contracting. • The Coastal Challenge: This shoreline experienced severe coastal erosion caused by strong wave action and longshore drift (currents moving sediment parallel to the shore). This resulted in continuous sand loss and degraded the beach front for the resort developments.

2. Technical Components & Specifications

1. Rock-Mound Transverse Groynes (Hard Engineering): o System Layout: 4 transverse groynes built perpendicular to the shoreline. o Total Length: 740 linear meters combined o Engineering Function: They act as physical barriers to break incoming wave energy and trap shifting longshore sediment. This forms protected inter-groyne basins with calm water.
2. Beach Sand Nourishment (Soft Engineering): o Fill Volume: Approximately 420,000 cubic meters of compatible marine sand. o Engineering Function: Reclaims lost land along the coast, creates a significantly wider dry beach area, and establishes a gentle, safe slope for public swimming and beach activities.

3. Detailed Execution Methodology

• Step 1: Material Sourcing & Transport Logistics Selecting qualified quarries to supply dense, erosion-resistant natural rock. Rocks are sorted by weight classes and transported to the site using heavy trucks.

• Step 2: Bedding & Base Layer Installation Placing geotextile filter fabric underneath to prevent rock sinking into the seabed, followed by an initial bedding layer of small stone aggregate (10 kg to 50 kg) to establish a stable foundation.

• Step 3: Primary Armor Layer Construction o Underlayer: Placing medium-weight stone (0.2 ton to 2 tons). o Outer Armor Layer: Keying heavy armor rock (2 tons to 6 tons) into place using long-reach excavators. This layer directly absorbs heavy storm wave impacts and stabilizes the groyne structure.

• Step 4: Hydraulic Sand Placement & Landward Grading Pumping 420,000 m³ of sand into the compartments between the groynes. Earthmoving equipment then levels and grades the beach to reach the final designed beach profile.