The Company discusses client procurement methods, ways to secure people, material and funding at the Qatar Construction Summit 

Khaldoun Tabari - CEO

[Dubai, 26 September, 2011]- Drake & Scull Construction (DSC), the civil contracting arm of Drake & Scull International (DSI) PJSC a regional market leader in integrated design, engineering and construction disciplines of Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP), Civil Contracting, and Water & Power, announced at the Qatar Construction Summit 2011 held at the Grand Hyatt hotel, Doha the expansion into the Qatari Market to leverage on the existing MEP and Water and Power business streams. The company was a sponsor and exhibitor at the summit and discussed the challenges faced by contractors in Qatar as they aim to support the country’s real estate expansion plans. Drake & Scull International’s presentation addressed the lucrative opportunities emerging in Qatar’s construction sector and particularly focused on client procurement methods, alignment of the construction and supply chain teams, in addition to shedding light on ways to secure the right people, materials and funding.

Commenting on this strategic milestone Khaldoun Tabari, CEO of DSI stated, “Drake & Scull Construction (DSC) will enable Drake & Scull International (DSI) PJSC to cover the complete value chain of the construction industry in Qatar and will optimize our exposure to the residential, commercial, education, healthcare and infrastructure sectors. We aim to import our regional experience and acquired operational and technical expertise in turnkey execution of high rise towers, hotels and residential schemes, infrastructure works, construction management, inspection and quality control to complement our established MEP and Water and Power divisions.”

“We are well established in Qatar and we have executed a wide range of MEP projects across various industries Tabari added “Drake & Scull Qatar”  (DSQ) the wholly owned subsidiary of Drake & Scull International (DSI) PJSC was established in 2006 and has undertaken a number of prestigious MEP projects in Qatar including the West Bay Complex “Four Seasons hotel” and the “QTEL headquarters” as well as a design and build contract for two district cooling plants for the Musheireb project developed by Doha Land “Tabari added. We look forward to capitalize on our regional capabilities and expertise to leverage our market share in Qatar and further identify and explore lucrative opportunities in the, MEP, Civil and Water and Power sectors” Tabari reiterated.

On the sidelines of the summit Saleh Muradweij, the Managing Director of Drake & Scull Construction stated, “Qatar has been witnessing unprecedented economic growth in recent years, and several key factors such as its favourable investment climate, strong government support and winning the 2022 World Cup hosting rights have added impetus to the country’s ambitious growth plans. The construction summit provided a well-rounded perspective of the various opportunities in Qatar’s construction landscape, and DSI’s presentation mainly addressed the various challenges that contractors confront as they try to keep pace with the market demands and the rapidly changing construction industry dynamics. ”

Since the beginning of 2011 DSI has managed to secure a series of MEP, Civil and Water & Power projects in several GCC countries, Egypt, Asia and Europe for a combined value of AED 3.6 billion. The company has a backlog of AED 7.5 billion as of June 2011 and remains positive on its expectations for the second half of the year and is now bidding extensively for projects in the MENA and Asian regions through its MEP, Civil and Water & Power divisions and is also proactively seeking to develop its integrated service offering to diversify into various industry sectors in emerging markets.

Dubai, 15th February 2010: The Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for SME Development (MBRE), an agency of the Department of Economic Development, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Dubai Statistics Center (DSC) to collect and analyze statistics on Dubai’s SMEs.  This follows the successful launch of the first official definition of SMEs of Dubai.  With the availability of SME statistics, the government of Dubai will now be able to publish and share SME statistics and research that will bring the Dubai SME agenda a notch higher.  It will also help other stakeholders understand the SME sector more objectively.  The SME statistics will also help the government baseline and landscape the SME sector for future strategic plans and policies as part of the larger economic development agenda of Dubai.

His Excellency Abdul Baset Al Janahi, Chief Executive Officer of the MBRE, and Aref Obaid Al Muhairi, Executive Director, DSC agreed that sharing information and conducting specific research on the state of Dubai’s SME sector could dramatically change how we approach, and formulate policies for the development of the sector.

“Small and medium enterprises account for up to 98.5 % of Dubai’s companies and 61% of the total workforce,” said Al Janahi, “and working with the DSC is an excellent way to understand the state of the SME sector and its characteristics. This is a great initiative to gather data on the most important sectors in the economy. The SME statistics will capture data by employment size and turnover, and by the three key sectors of Trading, Manufacturing and Services.  A key aspect of the data sets will be to calculate the SME value-add contribution over the last few years as a percentage of Dubai’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and see what the growth trends and patterns of the SME sector are like.” Such SME statistics will be the first of its kind in Dubai and the UAE. It will be a start to develop more complex statistics on SMEs over time. 

The Statistics Centre will support the research through a series of surveys, studies and consultations.

Al Muhairi described the collaboration as the perfect way for the DSC to play a role in gathering economic data: “The Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for SME Development is known as a great institution for the development and growth of small and medium sized businesses and we our delighted to support that. It’s an exciting challenge for us and we will work side by side with the MBRE to provide the most accurate findings.”

According to this MoU, the Dubai Statistics Center will provide statistical data and reports about SMEs for MBRE through a special screen within the electronic statistical system starting from 2011.  For a start, the MBRE and DSC will begin the process of mining the existing database to analyze and publish the first Dubai SME statistical bulletin by the middle of 2010.

Commander General of the Dubai Police His Excellency Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim praised the achievements of Dubai Statistics Center (DSC) during his recent official visit and tour of the center.

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