In an event held on Wednesday 2 November 2022, the Public Works Authority, ‘Ashghal,’ represented by the Road Projects Department (RPD), honoured winners and outstanding performers in the “Best Innovative Solution” and “Construction Engineers Cup” Initiatives at Ashghal’s headquarters. Both initiatives were launched to encourage the department’s team of engineers, employees, contractors and supervising consultants to implement the best practices and improve project performance, with the ultimate aim of achieving Ashghal’s strategy of implementing the best global practices.
On this occasion, Eng. Saoud Al Tamimi, Roads Projects Department Manager, congratulated the winners and praised their efforts that contributed to the success of both initiatives which covered all RPD’s projects and several engineering fields such as safety, quality, lean construction, among others. “Ashghal’s launching of such initiatives comes as part of its unwavering commitment to improve and develop the operational mechanisms on site, boost the level of quality and efficiency, and implement the best international practices in all fields, whilst promoting the use of these practices in all projects,” he said.
Eng. Al Tamimi added: “We would like to seize this opportunity to thank all participants and praise their efforts in submitting new proposals and innovative work mechanisms, which play an important role in spreading the lessons we learned and exchanging knowledge and experience. Moreover, we encourage all of the department’s staff, consultants and contractors to benefit from this experience and use it as a means for continuous performance development, as this will in turn serve local companies, the public, and our country as a whole.”
Best Innovative Solution Initiative
The initiative aims to inspire all RPD’s engineers and technical professionals, as well as the contracting and consulting companies’ teams, to come up with creative ideas and solutions to improve project performance level by sharing their practical, innovative solutions with all relevant parties, to be implemented on a wider scale. The initiative was open to all ideas in all fields, whether to deal with challenges, expedite progress rate in projects, reduce costs, support sustainability principles, protect the environment, improve work quality, and raise performance level. This covers several engineering sub-domains such as safety, lean construction, etc.
Applicants were divided into two categories; the first represents individual applicants, in which any engineer or technical staff working on RPD’s projects can propose innovative ideas outside the scope of the contract. The second category represents companies and projects, in which proposals are submitted by RPD’s consultants and/or contractors, who submit innovative solutions that have been successfully tested and implemented and are not included in the contract’s scope as well.
Winners in the Best Innovative Solution Initiative
Companies and Projects Category:
- First Position: Al Ghanim Company for Trading and Contracting and Parsons International who are jointly working in the Roads and Infrastructure Project in Al Kharaitiyat and Izghawa – Package 3, for submitting the Dewatering Control System Proposal.
- Second Position: China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd. (CRCC), working on the Roads and Infrastructure Project in Al Kheesa North and East – Package 2, for the Aconex Document Management System.
- Third Position: China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd. (CRCC) Roads and Infrastructure Project in Al Kheesa North and East – Package 2, for submitting an initiative to recycle food waste into compost.
Individual Category:
Eng. Najah Chmeit, Senior Project Manager in RPD’s Western Areas Section, for his proposal: “Automation of Site Inspection Requests.”
Judging Panel:
25 applications were received in the “Individual” category, and 16 were submitted under the companies and projects category. A panel was set up with representatives from various RPD’s sections to examine and evaluate the submissions, and the shortlisted candidates were invited to give presentations to the panel. Evaluation process was divided into two phases, and winners were selected by combining the results of both phases together (70% for Phase 1 and 30% for Phase 2).
Construction Engineers Cup Initiative
Construction Engineers Cup was launched to encourage RPD’s engineers to support Ashghal’s efforts to deliver its best, execute projects within specific timeframes and as per the required quality standards, achieve customer satisfaction and ensure readiness to host FIFA World Cup 2022, using the best applicable methods.
In this competition, the project’s leadership team, which includes Ashghal’s Project Engineer, the Contractor’s Project Manager, and the Consultant’s Senior Resident Engineer, were all required to visit project sites and complete inspections for four specific elements which are covered in the competition, namely health & safety and workers welfare; quality; site look and feel; preparedness for the rainy season, and traffic management. Participants were also asked to submit new ideas to improve the overall performance of RPD’s projects.
Winners of the Construction Engineers Cup Initiative
- First Position: Roads and Infrastructure Project in Al Ebb and Leabaib (Package 2), which is carried out by Qatar Building Company, under the supervision of KEO International Consultants.
- Second Position: Roads and Infrastructure Project in Al Egda, Al Heedan and Al Khor (Package 1), which is carried out by Al Darwish Engineering, under the supervision of CDM Smith Company.
- Third Position: Road and Infrastructure Project in Al Kheesa North and East (Package 2), which is implemented by China Railway Construction Company (CRCC), under the supervision of WSP International.
Judging Panel:
31 submissions were registered in this competition. All submissions were uploaded online via a designated code for each project so as not to reveal the project identity, and to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the evaluation process. The panel was made up of 12 members. 10 projects were shortlisted by the judges to give their presentations, and the winners were selected accordingly.