Remy Rowhani
BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB
DOHA: About 70 percent of 2022 Fifa-related projects will be awarded to local business community, Qatar Chamber Director General Remy Row-hani told reporters on the sidelines of Qatar Projects 2013 here yesterday.
Asked if the local companies are capable enough to deliver ambitious projects such as Qatar Rail, New Doha Port Project and others, Rowhani said: “It is not a question whether they are capable or not; it is a challenge that they must take. We as a Chamber are supporting companies to make sure they are sufficiently qualified to do that.”
However, while delivering his speech on “Boosting international participation and the role global partnerships play in delivering Qatar’s infrastructure programme and the National Vision 2030 on ‘Day One’ of the ‘Main Conference’ organised by Meed Events, Rowhani highlighted the significance of the global partners.
“We value our global partners. In an emerging economy such as ours, global partners present know-how and long term expertise which can play an integral role in delivering Qatar’s infrastructure programme.”
On the role of Qatar Chamber achieving the objective of Qatar National Vision 2030, he said that the Chamber is positioning itself as the natural gateway for investment into and out of the country by integrating Qatar within the global economy. “We are also focusing on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by bringing country specific expertise from around the world including Germany, Italy and others to make our SMEs mature enough to meet the demand.”
Qatar is set to spend about QR500bn over the next 10 years to implement a number of mega infrastructure projects to host the World Cup.
Asked to respond about concerns related to projects delays, he said: “Some consider it as delay while others see it as a challenge. Different people look at it differently. Let’s wait and see how we move forward.” He said that within a year or two things will be clear. “People at various positions in different departments, whom I know, are working very diligently to meet the timeline.”
The two-day event opened with a keynote address by H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry, which was delivered on his behalf by Hamad Rashid Al Mohannadi, Managing Director of RasGas and Vice-Chairman of Qatar Petroleum. Present were Qatar Central Bank Governor H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Saoud Al Thani, Qatar Financial Centre Authority CEO and Board Member Shashank Srivastava, IBQ Managing Director Jabra Ghandour, Meed Chairman Edmund O Sullivan and other dignitaries. The Peninsula
