Industry too focused on price, say KSA watchers

zoom

The habit of awarding contracts to the lowest bidder is undermining safety and quality, according to KSA industry watchers.

Experts have called for the contract system in Saudi Arabia to be overhauled. They have said that many construction contracts are currently awarded to the lowest bidder, and not the most competent company.

The nation's construction industry is booming, with an estimated US $300 billion (SAR1.1 trillion) worth of projects being undertaken.

But many feel that the present contract system must be changed as it is leading to poor quality of work and a lapse in health and safety standards.

One project manager, who asked not to be named, told CW: "The situation here is that the lowest bidder is given the contract and then people wonder why so many people are killed on sites.

"We need to be in the situation, which is starting to happen in other parts of the GCC, where the most competent firms with the best safety records are given the contracts.

"I have been here quite a few years and it is slowly starting to change. We are leaning on the pyramid and making some headway, but it is slow progress.

John Gibbs, health and safety manager, Saudi Arabian Bechtel Company, agreed that cost should not be the most important factor in deciding tenders.

"We need a process that will ensure that contracts are awarded on technical competency and not on lowest price," said Gibbs.

Worker safety was another important issue which needed addressing, the experts claimed. The project manager said: "Currently, injuries and deaths on roads must be among the highest in the world, and the same could probably be said for construction sites.

Many construction accidents are not reported, recorded or given enough credence.

"The general lack of internationally-recognised company standards does harm the reputation of the country as a whole and I hope this can be changed. The industry needs to modernise and modernise quickly.

Elfatih Idris is general sales manager for crane provider Saudi Liebherr. "The big companies are very interested in [health and safety], but the smaller crane operators are not so interested," he said.

Small companies are into an economically cheap solution, which means they're less interested in training and some of them allow untrained people to operate cranes."

Print | Email | Discuss this article |

READERS' COMMENTS

View all comments (1)

Have your say

General safety issues
Posted by Andy Joule, Dubai, UAE on Monday 21 April 2008 at 07:53 UAE time


It is still a problem when Companies - even internationally renowned ones will employ safety personnel as a "tick in a box" and treat them little better than laborers. Still consider safety but not at the cost of production.

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Security Code *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM