Muscat, Nov 25 - The Oman Society of Contractors (OSC), the umbrella organisation of construction firms in the Sultanate, says it is working with government authorities to overhaul the contracting sector which, with around 40,000 registered companies, is contributing to “chaos” in the industry. According to a high-level official of the association, plans are afoot to make it mandatory for construction firms to be first registered as members of the OSC as a prerequisite for engaging in construction activities in the Sultanate. Fawzi al Harrasi (pictured), Vice Chairman, said the move has the backing of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, while other stakeholder organisations are broadly supportive of this initiative.
“One of the main challenges we have to overcome pertains to the unorganised segment of the contracting sector,” said Al Harrasi. “We have around 40,000 firms registered with the Ministry as engaged in contracting and trading activities. Many of these are not active. We also have in the vicinity of 2000-plus companies registered with the Tender Board.” He further added: “I think the government clearly sees the challenges we are going through because of the unorganised environment we are in. We have small contractors competing with big ones, and it’s creating chaos. Standards need to be changed as well.” Addressing a construction summit held in the city recently, the official stressed the need for a reorganisation of the contracting sector based on specific criteria that define which companies are entitled to practice contracting activities, and which are not.
“Oman Society of Contractors is working with different government entities in categorising these companies based on those that are active (and those that aren’t). The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has been kind enough to look into this issue, and now require every company that wants to be in contracting to be registered with us first. Other ministries, such as the Ministry of Manpower, have also accepted the criteria that we have put forth, which forces contractors to be part of the Association. Thus, without membership, they will not be able to function as contractors.” “We are on the verge of announcing this new policy with the government very soon,” the Society’s Vice Chairman stated. Part of the objective behind this compulsory membership is to support the introduction of professional standards in the construction industry, Al Harrasi added.
Conrad Prabhu
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