The Public Works Authority 'Ashghal', represented by the Roads Projects Department, announces winning the Silver Stevie® Award for its nomination of Strategic and Contractual Enhancements included and applied to project contracts of Ashghal's Local Areas Infrastructure Programme as an innovative approach to project management. The Middle East and North Africa Stevie® Awards is the only programme dedicated to recognizing innovation in the business sector in the region. The awards were presented this year to companies and individuals in 18 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region.
In this context, Eng. Saoud Al Tamimi, Manager of the Roads Projects Department at Ashghal emphasized the Authority's continued efforts in promoting and supporting a culture of innovation and continuous development of methods and practices in the workplace. These efforts are part of Ashghal's strategy to achieve multiple objectives including ensuring timely delivery, improving cost management, enhancing quality management performance, improving health and safety standards, as well as integrating new assets and effectively achieving other objectives.
Eng. Saoud Al Tamimi noted that in 2018, Ashghal had launched a package of contractual enhancements to infrastructure projects in citizens' sub-divisions and existing areas, bringing the number of enhanced contracts to 40 contracts so far, as these enhancements are aimed at facilitating project implementation and reducing their impact on the population. Al Tamimi added that the second consecutive win of the Stevie® Award in the Middle East and North Africa proves Ashghal's success and commitment to innovate new methods of applying best practices and achieving tangible results.
446 prizes were awarded to winners from 18 countries in the Middle East and North Africa during the ceremony, which was held on March 4th, 2024, in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah under the auspices of Ras Al Khaimah Chamber of Commerce and in the presence of distinguished government dignitaries and participants from around the world, as well as leading CEOs and directors of international institutions and companies.
For his part, Eng. Ghanim Al Tamimi, projects engineer at the Roads Projects Department, said that Ashghal's nomination highlights the enhancements in project contracts that have led to tangible positive results such as the ability to establish more accurate timetables for work delivery, enhancing workers' health and safety, increasing the pace of implementation, and enabling Ashghal to track contractor performance in all areas of implementation through the key performance indicator system.
Zoning
Under contractual enhancements, the project's geographical scope is divided into smaller sub-areas that are implemented in successive phases, which accelerates the completion of implementation work at each stage and reduces the impact of construction work on area residents, by focusing the machinery, equipment, and human resources to quickly complete each phase.
Communication with Citizens
The enhanced contracts of citizens sub-divisions projects emphasize the promotion of communication with area residents during work implementation, through the appointment of public relations officials with expertise in work implementation and the culture of the country, where mostly Qatari or Qatari-born officials are appointed to coordinate continuously with the population, respond to their questions and do the necessary to mitigate work impact on them. This is in addition Ashghal's contact center number (#188) which operates around the clock to respond to citizens' requests and inquiries as soon as possible.
Lean Construction
Contractual enhancements include the application of 'Lean Construction' principles and early site preparation which contribute to overcoming many challenges that hinder the progress of project works. Through lean construction, collaborative planning meetings are held to identify and plan for any expected project challenges. These meetings take place at the Project Performance Centre, which is also one of the mechanisms included in the enhanced contracts.
Noise and Dust Reduction
Ashghal has amended the Local Areas Infrastructure Programme projects contracts to oblige project contractors to maximum noise standards during the implementation of all project stages and to comply with the standards and requirements of Qatar's Construction Specifications and environmental protection laws and legislation, to include the use of less disturbing equipment when carrying out drilling near homes, and monitoring and controlling the levels of dust.