During the opening ceremony of the development projects forum in Asharqia Chamber yesterday
Eastern region governor: the private sector's role in Economic diversification is pivotal
AlShaikh: the 10th development plan allocated 2.3 trillion riyals to projects and programs directed to citizens' service
AlOtaishan: we look forward to enforcing our partnership with the business sector and their role in the development plans
His crown prince Saud bin Nayef, Eastern region governor, asserted that supporting the private sector's role in the development sector in the region, in particular, and In Saudi is of a personal interest to him. He said that he encourages all the programs and activities that help improve the abilities and resources in the region and enforce the economic role of this sector. This sector is significantly important given its place in the progressive vision of the king that encourages economic diversification.
His Highness delivered the opening speech of the development projects, which was organized by Asharqia Chamber and eastern region Emara and was held yesterday morning, Wednesday, November 4, 2015, in Asharqia Chamber main office. He said that despite the numerous visions of economists about ways for economic development sustainability, they agree that spending on development projects sector is an essential factor to sustain a stable economy, since it is considered the best way to attract foreign investments and nationalizing national capital. He added that the government under the guidance of King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz, the deputy prime minister, and the second deputy prime minister had all shown great interest in the infrastructure projects. That has been embodied by the increasing the allocated budget yearly and putting more emphasis on training programs to improve the national workforce whether business owners of workers in the development projects sector.
He pointed that reinforcing such development projects and clarifying its development objectives will reflect positively on Saudi citizens since they are considered the first development pillar. It will reflect positively on the entire local economic proactive since they are now responsible for initiatives in the local economic movement and since they are direct participants in the projects offered by the government.
For his part, Eng Abdullatif bin Abdulmalik AlShaikh, minister of municipal and rural affairs said that the Kingdom is witnessing large-scaled development programs that are spreading across the country. All these programs are part of the king's vision and are under his direct support, as well as the support of the crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz the deputy prime minister and the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz the second deputy prime minister.
He added that human development is one of the most emphasized development projects that the country is implementing. Training national workforce is essential since the Saudi citizen is considered a pivotal point in the development process and is its most important pillar. Alshaikh pointed out that the country's development projects are known for covering the basic developing pillars; it included education, health, basic needs, transportation and service of all kinds. These projects are always growing to accommodate the growing needs and the developments in technology and it covers all area of Saudi. These projects are one of the most important economic development activators, and they help in raising the living quality standards and improving its investment attraction.
He digressed saying that the 10th development plan for the country has put extra emphasis on raising the productive efficiency of both the public and private sectors. Moreover, it focused significantly on an essential pillar for development, the Saudi citizen. Thus, most of the development projects revolve around that goal. The education, training science, and technology projects have received approximate 1200 billion riyals. Moreover, 664 million were allocated to develop the basic needs, which includes the transportation, telecommunication, municipal services and housing sectors. Around 444 billion riyals were allocated to developing the health service and social development. This plan will carry some development programs and projects that will help the country flourish and prosper.
Alshaikh said that this stage of strategic development projects stems from a long-term vision and a system that relies on teamwork and shared leadership and rationing resources, everyone has participated in their development saga. This stage will focus on raising the productive efficiency of both the public and private sectors under the support of the development and economic affairs council. The council is directly supported by King Salman as well as the support of the crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz the deputy prime minister and the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz the second deputy prime minister. This will raise the efficiency of the development projects and open up new ways for integration between the different government sectors and the private sector to work hand in hand in the country's development based on the economic needs and to comply with the development requirements.
Alshaikah asserted that these new projects are mainly to serve Saudi citizens. Currently, more than 150 basic municipal service is being provided through the emannas and municipalities all across Saudi, which are 284.
The ministry of municipal and rural affairs is working on improving its services and its performance during the next period. It will be through urban planning and raising the quality of its services. That would include improving the investment and lands affairs administration as well and implementing more technology in the services provided. Also, enforcing the concept of small and medium cities development, as well as improving the living quality in them. Along with the other suggestions mentioned before like enforcing the role of the private sector in the development process.
We look forward to implementing these initiatives and developing the municipal work and reform the sector in general, as well improve human resources to reach the highest levels. Moreover, we look forward to reaching the optimal benefit from this forum and everything that will be discussed in it, to improve the services provided for Saudi citizens.
For his part, Abdulrahman saleh Al-Otaishan, Asharqia Chamber chairman said that development projects have been getting a huge sum of the total budget in the last five years, since 2011. Moreover, the total spending on development projects is almost 1.2 trillion riyal, which includes new projects and additional phases of existing projects. He asserted that the government's vision is being carried as planned and the plan to have a sustainable economy is within reach. He added that the businesses sector has a role to play to achieve this plan since it is considered as one of the main partners. Thus, more effort is expected to achieve the goal of turning the Saudi economy to a multi-sources economy.
He concluded that despite the obstacles that the development projects face organizational or otherwise we should focus on achieving our plans and visions to get the economy that we have been waiting for, a sustainable and multi-sourced economy.
In the first session of the development projects forum
Almulhum: planning and new management guarantees projects implantation
Alhaddad: the problem of the Saudi building code is implementation
Alamar: failing is an obstacle in the construction sector; main reasons are legislative and Retributive
Eng. Ahmed AlSuwaidan directed the first session. It discussed the issue of development projects failures, and Eng. Fahad Mohammed Al-Jubair, the eastern region mayor represented a paper that was introduced by Jamal almulhum, deputy mayor of EP municipality. Mohammed Al-Haddad, the president of The Saudi Building Code National Committee also introduced a paper and the session concluded with Abdulhakim Alamar, board member and president of the contractor committee.
Almulhum commenced the session with a paper titled "The reality of the development projects in the eastern region." He said that projects often fail or delay if the requirements were not met. Such studying the project before commencing it lack of available resources, lack of planning and many more that falls under the same category that is the lack of early project management. He assured that they idea of establishing projects management division was one of the solutions to overcome the projects failure issue. The Emanna is trying to move from the traditional framework to a conceptual one and then to an institutional one. In the traditional phase, the process was carried without any sufficient programs or allotments. As for the conceptual phase, there were some good practices in projects management, but it was usually individual efforts especially in the beginnings. There were some achievements in that phase, and we started applying some concepts to assure projects success, and high quality. In that phase, we built a project management culture in our employees and partners, and we identified our shortcomings. As for the next phase, it was developing the experience and utilizing an intuitional framework in project management.
Mohammed Al-Haddad, the president of The Saudi Building Code National Committee, represented the second paper. The title was "the Saudi building code and its role in development projects." Al-Haddad asserted that the building code a system that manages to design, establishing and maintain buildings, to assure their safety, general health, and Consumption rationing. It contains requirements and Stipulations, which are the code reference and should be consulted in case of differences. He asserted that the lack of a specific building code had produced many issues and losses, thus, the council of ministers issued many decisions and based on that the Saudi Building Code National Committee was established. He pointed that the Saudi building code had utilized viable resources, most important of which is the Arabic and international codes and reviewed many experiences and lists before being released. However, the Saudi building code has not been applied yet despite the positive impact it should carry, especially when it comes to safety.
Abdulhakim Alamar, board member and president of the contractor committee spoke in the session as well. He said that many reasons could attribute to projects failure. Some pertain to the legislative side, some pertain to the contractor, some pertain to the owners or the governmental entities involved while other pertain to workers. He asked to establish a contractor's commission that is directed to the organizing, classification and funding affairs. Moreover, he recommended a revision of Article 22 of the government purchase system, which states that offers cannot be precluded on the ground of low pricing unless it is 35% lower than the governmental entity's estimation and the prevailing prices. He called for finding a new mechanism to activate Article 23 of the government purchase system, to preclude any offer even if it was the lowest if it was evident that the bidder has other projects and that he cannot fulfill contractual obligations. He also called for amending Article 53 of the government purchase system immediately. It would necessitate putting standards and instructions to pull any contract from bidders and revoke the contract while enforcing him to carry the project and carry out any other obligations if he renounced the contractor made a subcontract without acquiring the government entity written consent first. He asserted the activation of Article 71 of the government purchase and bidding system, which states that contractors how had renounced a contract are held liable for carrying out the contract with the new contractor. Moreover, he called for finding a new mechanism that enables contractors to be compensated in case prices went up as well as a mechanism to dissolve any conflicts that might arise with the owners in a legal way that grants all parties their rights.
Alamar criticized some owners' related issues such as the contracts awarding mechanism, which usually grant the lowest bidder or unqualified contractor or classified contractors although they do not exceed 10% of the total contractors in Saudi. The lack of any technical or financial studies to clarify the project's needs as well as any active mechanism that assures that the contractor is a good fit for this project usually hinders the project. Alamar is looking forward to the contractor committee cooperation with the governmental entities and to establishing a shared database to serve as a guide for making a decision when it comes to public bids as well as establishing a fair module to select qualified contractors and filter out the disqualified ones. Moreover, he concluded with a request to inaugurate a project management team that follows and organizes all the projects in the area and makes sure that there are no issues regarding the location, permits or services needed for the project before it is commenced. As well as appropriately following up for the project during the construction period until it is finished. This would require cooperation with the ministry of labor to provide the suitable workers for the contractor.
Saudi Aramco, Saudi Electricity Company and the Royal Commission in Jubail review their experiences in development project management
The second session has reviewed the successful stories in managing development projects of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Electricity Company and the Royal Commission in Jubail. Dr. Sami Alkayaat directed it as part of "development projects, realities, and aspirations." Forum. Asharqia Chamber of Commerce organized the forum in cooperation with eastern region emmana and the crown prince Saud bin Nayef sponsored it. The three companies reviewed their experiences in project management in general and in managing development projects in particular. Eng. Ziyad Bin Mohammed Al-Shiha, the CEO in Saudi Electricity Company, spoke about the company's experience in overcoming challenges when it comes to project management. He pointed out the company's application of strategic transfer program (ASTP) which consists of three stages of the span of 10 years. Each stage has certain goals that have to be achieved to reach the final goal, which will make the Saudi Electricity Company a first rate international service provider.
Al-Shiha added that the program was supposed to save up to 30 billion of the operating and capital expenditure of the company. He pointed that the company has managed to decrease its capital by 1.7 billion and 2 million riyals by using aluminum wires in place of copper wire, and 59 million riyals from discontinuing printing subscriber's invoices of less than 100 riyals. Moreover, he mentioned that the company has executed projects that amount to 227 billion riyals since the beginning of 2000 until now. More project is currently in the process of the approximate cost of 330 billion riyals and will finish in 2020. He said that based on the strategic transfer program (ASTP), the company will establish a company for projects development owned solely by Saudi electricity company. It aims to execute low-cost projects and maximize the benefit by localizing the knowledge. It will support the company in the engineering and project management field.
Dr.Musleh Al-Otaibi, Chief Executive of Royal Commission, referred the company's success in development projects management to some factors. Amongst which is the detailed management regulations to regulate the workflow. These regulations are considered the main authority between the commission's administrations. There is also a management and technical structure that has been applied for decades, to ensures that certain people are not controlling the decision-making authority. That Is Contrary to projects management through dividing the roles between the sectors and administrations, which usually starts with the basic idea of the project and ends with delivering the project. This process is known as the gate process. He added that the commission has utilized developing industrial and housing area using different contracts. Like infrastructure contracts, and service facilities contracts. Cooperating between these contracts is through an integrated plan that shows the relation between all the projects, to assert the progression and integration of the high commission projects and the private sector projects.
Alotaibi pointed out a set of standards that the commission follows and applies to projects, like the engineering guide and the technical specifications. There are about 260 specifications along with official details and international references. He said that successful project management is done through intensive management to enable goals. It should also utilize strategic planning that has long-term goals. Such goals should be integrated into the yearly and five years' work plans, and those plans should be updated to accommodate the economic and political changes.
In the same topic, Motaz bin Abdulaziz Al-Mashouq, the executive director of the general and infrastructure projects in Aramco, has reviewed Aramco's experience in developing and managing development projects. He pointed out that Aramco works on these development projects as part of its social responsibility to the Saudi society, and to create an updated environment that is compatible with the current time and age.
He had listed out Aramco's development projects that included educational and cultural establishments, and research centers such as king Abdullah University of Science and Technology, King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, and King Abdullah Center for petroleum studies and research. Also, many infrastructure projects like the stormwater drainage project in Jeddah, and thuwal town development project amongst another project. He pointed out that acamo's success cannot be attributed to 4 factors, safety, quality, timelines, and cost.
Al-Mashouq mentioned that thuwal town development project was finished recently. He said that this project was achieved as planned and it was established in two stages, the first included building facilities for fishermen and developing the corniche and its facilities, this stage ended in 2009. The second stage included the infrastructure, which meant services, schools, health accommodations, a cultural center, mosques, a street network and highways, drinking water and a drainage system, this stage ended in 2015.
Third session: Saudi Railroad Company and the construction Institute are exploring investment opportunities to push for development
In the third session that was titled ""the importance of development projects and its role in the economic development." Dr. Bassam bin Mohammed bodai will be directing this session. Bashar bin Khalid al-Malik, the projects management director in the Saudi Railroad Company, spoke about the railroad company's projects and its role in the national economy. He represented a paper where he said that the company was established in 2006 to establish a network that connects all Saudi area and provide a safe transportation option as well as a decent option to transport commodities. He mentioned that the company includes a third route to support the logistic side to transport metallurgical industries, since this industry has become essential to the national economy. This route transports minerals and raw materials from mines from Hazem aljalamid in the north of Saudi, and the baathiah in AlQassim to the refining factories in the Processing Industries complex for Madden Company in Ras al-Khair.
He pointed out the establishing a railroad network will be one of the most important infrastructure projects to Saudi. This railroad network is supposed to be 2,750 km long in total. As for the economic contribution of the railroad company, al-Malik said that they are working on improving the passengers' transportation services and provide an alternative. As for the logistic support in commodities transportation and providing a safe way for mineral transportation as well. The company is also providing Saudi investors with investment opportunities, and it will help create multi sources of income by employing the kingdom's areas and ports strategically from the red sea to the Arabian Gulf. This will help create new job opportunities for Saudi. This will help decreased petrol consumption and reserve the environment compared to the other means of transportation. It will also help lower accidents rate and enforce safe transportation. It will improve the commercial and social movement and create plenty job opportunities for service providers as well as attract investments and create investing opportunities.
In a second paper titled "the role of the Construction Industry Institute in projects economies." Ali bin Shahsh, the executive manager of the Construction Industry Institute in KFUPM, said that the main goals for the construction industry are to construct buildings, factories and the wiring and the infrastructure for these projects as the national economy requires, as well as maintaining and working on these projects, so they become flexible. The construction industry is supposed to achieve all the previous goals in a high quality and sufficiently. He said that the most common reason for research failures in the construction industry domain was the dispersity of the construction industry elements, the relation between the chosen topics to the construction industry. Also, the lack of communication between the researchers and those who would apply the research outcomes and the users, he asserted that this will in turn waste all the efforts and to users, it will make researchers and developers lose their credibility. He asserted that the research and development progress in the construction industry in Saudi is far less than the other industries, and the efforts are very low although it is an essential part of developing the product and marketing it.
The last paper's title is "the contribution of the infrastructure projects in pushing the economy." Eng. hani bin Mubarak alqahtani, the projects management director in the Saudi railroad company would present it. He asserted that the company is cooperating with the investment commission as part of the industries localization. This initiative will help attract more investments to the railroad company and will help create job opportunities and rotate the cash flow and the transfer expertise and lower the dependency on exporting as well as provide the used basic materials. He asserted that there had been communications with the manufacturers and exporters to encourage local factories to make all sort of railroad parts that can be used by the railroad company, such as Freight cars, passenger cars, spare parts the upper part of the wheels and the breaks brushes.
