MUSCAT, June 3 - Having invested in seven power and water plants reaching up to $4 billion, Engie, has reaffirmed its commitment to be a long-term strategic investor in Oman, while ensuring opportunities for SMEs. Engie’s latest project has been the construction of the fourth reverse osmosis desalination plant in Barka, which provides 295,000 cubic metres per day of potable water. Active around the world in 70 countries, Engie employs more than 150,000 people worldwide and achieved revenues of 65 billion euros in 2017.
Hamed al Maghderi (pictured), Country Director of Engie in Oman, said, “SMEs is an important sector in Oman. Supporting SMEs is a requirement whether it is local or global. In addition to providing them with business opportunities, we are trying to raise their experience to meet the level of work efficiency required in our target. We need more specialised SMEs such as the ones for operations or others specialised in the field of electricity and water. This way we can contribute more. At present we see SMEs focusing mainly in soft skills.”
He also pointed out that there is a need for specialised SMEs in various sectors and added that one of the most important assets for an economy is SMEs. “The more SMEs, the healthier the economy because that is how various industrial countries work,” said Al Maghderi.
An Omani gas turbine maintenance team, crew of 25 members specialising in different areas, are now working in various projects in Oman as well as abroad in Engie’s projects. “This team was formed to maintain our gas turbines as you know gas turbines is extremely high tech and costly. So to guarantee in-house maintenance availability we had to train employees who are willing to work in this type of environment. Maintenance for gas turbine is a difficult operation for a power plant. It should be precise and requires specialised knowledge and meet high HSE requirement.
“We have been working on the team and now we have the technical team who not only maintains the gas turbine here in Oman, but also in other countries. “Our team has been to Bahrain, Turkey and Saudi Arabia,” explained the Country Director.
Engie is also expanding from energy to technology venturing into solutions and that can also be seen in the CSR activities in which Engie will be installing solar panels in schools and is currently studying the lighting of desert communities.
Th e group is planning to engage in large solar PV and in projects related to energy services. Engie active in 70 countries has achieved in Oman 70 per cent Omanisation and hope to reach 100 per cent Omanisation by 2025.
It is also looking toward taking on the major challenge of the energy revolution, towards a more decarbonised, decentralised and digitised world. The focus is on low carbon generation in particular from natural gas and renewable energies, energy infrastructure and efficient solutions.
Lakshmi Kothaneth
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
