Qatar Society of Engineers board member Abdullah al-Baker (extreme left) speaks as Ahmed al-Jolo (centre), Qatar Society of Engineers board member Ibrahim Mohamed al-Sulaiti and others look on. PICTURE: Jayaram

By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter

Qatar is to host the 18th Gulf Engineering Forum at The St Regis Doha on March 1-3.
Qatar Society of Engineers chairman Ahmed Jassim al-Jolo said the event, which is held along with an expo of engineering and related industries, would be attended by  a host of decision-makers, policy experts, senior officials from private and public sectors,  eminent engineering professionals and a large number of industry professionals,  representing engineering institutions and consultant offices across the region.
The three-day event, held under the patronage of HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani is coming to the country at a time when the state is undergoing a massive infrastructure developmental  transformation to meet its growing needs and requirements, said al-Jolo, who also served earlier as chairman of the premier forum of the country’s senior engineers, the Professional Engineers Committee.
The event is being held with the support of Ashghal.
The forum, he said, is targeting the realisation of the goals and objectives of the Qatar National Vision 2030 that aim at delivering the best infrastructure network and high standards of living for its citizens and residents.
Along with bringing together key industry professionals from across the region and outside, the three-day meeting also aims to serve as a platform for exchange of ideas and views of the engineering societies, said the senior Qatari engineering professional. The participants are expected to benefit significantly from the expertise to be brought at the forum by the senior professionals involved in different areas of infrastructure development, added al-Jolo.
“With the hosting of the forum, one of our main intentions is to boost the levels of engineering awareness among the upcoming professionals and students of engineering in the country,” said al-Jolo while explaining the significance of the event.
The forum participants will review the progress of the major projects executed in the region’s states, and other projects which are in different stages of execution. “We will also hold elaborate deliberations on the region’s future plans and infrastructure projects to be implemented in the Gulf States,” said al-Jolo.
There are a number of issues involved in the execution of any major project and the professionals working behind such ambitious plans are facing a host of challenges throughout different phases of their execution, pointed out al-Jolo while deliberating yesterday on the forum’s agenda.
 Developments in the transportation sector, green standards for infrastructure, provision and availability of raw materials for engineering projects, human resources for engineering projects, and the best practices in project management are among the themes of the forum’s discussion, it is understood.
At the forum, Qatari Society of Engineers in co-operation with the Gulf Engineering Union will give away awards for excellence and innovation for the basic infrastructure projects in the GCC States.  Awards will be given to the entities represented in the Gulf engineering institutions (where awards are given to the best project designed by a qualified person working in the engineering sector) and individual awards for GCC –based innovator engineers. The second award will be given for best projects developed from the faculties of engineering, architecture or individual projects carried out by one engineer or member engineers of any organisation in which they work
The main theme for this year’s award is “Basic infrastructure projects in the GCC States”. The five sub-categories of the award are transportation, green standards for infrastructure, provision of raw materials for engineering projects, provision of human resources for engineering projects and best practices in project management.
Qatar hosted the forum last in 2008 and Muscat was the venue of the last edition.


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