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| Vice-president Parsons Brinckerhoff and director of local roads and drainage programme Mike Rigsby speaks as Jalal Salih, Ghanem al-Mansouri and Saud al-Tamimi look on. Picture: Jayaram |
At a meeting held at Hilton Hotel yesterday, attended by about 400 professionals serving the country’s construction sector, senior Ashghal officials explained the criteria for selecting contractors for implementing projects worth more than QR53bn, covering more than 220 projects across the country.
More than 200 companies were represented at the meeting.
The top Ashghal officials said the construction activities to be undertaken in five regions in the roads and drainage sectors would be executed under the guidance of five project managers who in turn would be co-ordinating with the chief project consultants, Parsons Brinckerhoff.
According to the locations, the new projects would be classified as those falling in Qatar North, Qatar South, Doha North, Doha South and Doha West areas. The five project managers are Kathab & Alami/WSP, TBD, Hyder Consulting, Parson International and Atkins.
According to the list announced at the meeting, Qatar North would have 40 new projects, Qatar South 15, Doha North 68, Doha South 80, Doha West 18.
Ashghal officials expressed the hope that once the works concerned are finally awarded in October after each stage of the contract, starting sometime next month, is completed, the country’s residents would see major road and drainage works initiated in different regions.
They said Ashghal and Parsons Brinckerhoff have established the local roads and drainage programme as part of a greater infrastructure plan in line with the goals and objectives of the Qatar National Vision 2030. This is being done even while efforts are on in a full swing to ensure that all projects to be awarded this year are ready, well before the 2022 Fifa World Cup which Qatar is hosting, said the officials.
The officials said since November last year, their teams have been working on the process of planning, designing and mobilising to ensure that all works are started by the end of this year.
Ashghal authorities explained since the ambitious programme consisted of so many projects, each phase has a specific criteria that would determine the awarding of the framework agreement. The framework procedure, they said, is a procurement process that includes pre-qualification, submissions, evaluations and tendering.
Under the framework agreement, there will be an umbrella of agreements, that established general terms and conditions, schedule of rates, work orders and call off procedures, it was told
One of the main norms for the selection process is the need for the successful bidders to be either a Qatari registered company or a joint venture of a firm with a Qatari company.
A Qatari registered company, it was announced, must have its commercial registration with at least 2 years of local experience in infrastructure construction works.
A non-Qatari contractor is expected to have a joint venture in a 50:50 partnership with a registered Qatari company.
While explaining the eligibility criteria for awarding contracts, the officials said work or groups of related works amounting to QR200mn or less would be reserved for Qatari companies.
Those between QR200mn and QR900mn would be awarded either to Qatari firms or non-Qatari joint ventures. Similarly, works over 900mn could also be awarded to Qatari firms or non-Qatari joint ventures, having local participation.
Ashghal officials explained the selection process will be an opportunity to combine internationally best practices in the industry with sufficient local knowledge.
Once the selection process is completed and the framework agreement is awarded, contractors will be issued work orders for construction throughout the course of the programme based on the performance of quality, health, safety, environment, sustainability, and stakeholder management.
Ashghal officials director of infrastructure affairs Jalal Yousef Salih, contracts manager Ghanem bin Rashid al-Mansouri, manager roads and drainage projects Saud Ali A al-Tamimi and Parson Brinckerhoff vice president and project director Mike Rigsby answered queries by the gathering. Many senior Asghal officials including its president Nasser al-Mawlawi were among others present.