In the times when the country is witnessing development of a large number of mega projects from road networks to stadiums and citizens’ sub-divisions, the need of locally manufactured materials has also soared tremendously. Due to wise and timely-formulated policies of the government of Qatar, the Public Works Authority and Qatar Chamber, the share of local manufacturers in provision of materials for ongoing development projects is increasing with every passing month giving an extra push to the growth of local industry.
The ‘Supporting Local Manufacturers Forum’ which was recently organized by the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) in collaboration with Qatar Chamber was another excellent move by Ashghal to further promote local manufacturing. It is part of Ashghal’s efforts to encourage reliance on the national product in the Authority’s projects and to encourage the local companies to participate in the country’s projects, in addition to introducing Qatari manufacturers to the Authority’s projects and their requirements of various materials.
President of the Public Works Authority, Dr. Engineer Saad bin Ahmad Al Muhannadi, revealed, during the Forum, that the reliance on main local materials has increased from 38 to 70 percent from 2016 to 2020. “The local market has benefited from about QR20bn from infrastructure projects and buildings budgets over the past five years.
The value of materials from the local market during the next five years is estimated at QR25.6bn to meet the requirements of buildings and infrastructure projects,” he said. About the importance of these efforts, the President of Ashghal said: “By relying on local materials and manufacturers in most of the Authority’s projects and increasing the percentage of the local component, we aim to contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of the national industry and diversifying investment activities, and supporting local production activities in the infrastructure and contracting sector, in order to compete with their counterparts globally, in line with Qatar National Vision 2030”.
Ashghal had also launched Ta’heel initiative in 2017 with the aim of supporting the local product. The Forum was briefed that the Authority has qualified 150 companies through Ta’heel initiative and that the number of qualified companies increases significantly every year. These factories provide Ashghal projects with 60 main products that are manufactured locally, including materials that used to be imported from abroad in the past, such as street lighting poles and luminaires, drainage pipes, directional signs, traffic safety elements, electrical cables, irrigation materials and park construction supplies.
