Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Pioneering experience for big local companies

ali
ali
minus
plus

Ali Al Matani  - ali.matani2@gmail.com - The experience of big local companies in the areas of oil concession in the Sultanate is considered one of the successful experiences with regard to social responsibility not only locally or regionally, but at the international level too. This is the result of importance attached to such experiences in line with the directions of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos as it is important for development, growth and sustainability.


Five companies were established as general closed shareholding companies in which citizens contribute. They include wide segments from local societies, with more than 9,300 citizens participating in these five corporations.


These companies were awarded contracts worth $824 million from Petroleum Development Oman in the fields of services and maintenance, according to data for first quarter of the current year, which enabled the sons of these regions to benefit from contracts of exploring and oil supply, and helped establish efficient local companies that generate benefits for locals. They supported sustainable development.


They have become economic entities that will grow one by one until they are capable of competing with other companies in the oil and other sectors. This experience is considered the best when it comes to social responsibility with its scientific, accurate and sustainable concept.


The experience of encouraging residents of the oil concession areas to establish small and medium enterprises in concession areas has gone through many obstacles since the beginning of the programme in the year 1998, until it turned into a successful experience that we see today with more than 300 registered companies, small and medium, all working under the umbrella of the main companies.


It is worth mentioning that the profit of these companies through the awarded contracts for 2016 is about $235 million.


These experiences reflect the attention and care given to these local big companies and the support given to them for building a sustainable base for the Omani industry in the oil sector; not to mention, the efforts in motivating local companies in finding and establishing supply chains and added value contracts in the long term. It is all about laying the first stone in the programme of development and diversity in the oil industry in the Sultanate. It will come out of womb of local societies, develop one by one until it matures and reach that time when they can be fully dependent and capable of competing with the other companies.


These companies today are big economical entities that are efficient, effective and able to compete for contracts with operations that extend beyond the Sultanate’s borders. They now have a strong trademark when it comes to the oil industry.


These distinguished successes are considered one of the experiences that we are proud of when it comes to evaluating the social experiences that are responsible in the field of sustainable development, the target of which is the efficient participation in the economic activities in the concession areas. Adopting this model in other economic fields like electricity, tourism, logistics, industry and other economic fields is really possible.


Wide segments of local society has benefited from oil concession areas due to the support that PDO extended as per the directions of the government through a committee that worked on setting a proper environment for these companies and promoting their abilities continuously. This created businessmen and development people in these societies and they found opportunities that gave jobs to thousands of Omani youth, and contributed to making these societies a real partner in development.


Such experiences don’t develop from scratch without any hardship and obstacles in the way of forming these companies in reality. This has led to high quality services that serve wide segments of society, passed through many levels until they became good models that benefited thousands of people from local societies, earning annual profits that are distributed among the contributors.


We hope to repeat such successful experiences in various economic fields, and give such opportunities to the sons of the provinces so that they can form shareholding companies that can be managed by their sons, and supported by the big non-oil companies. This is not hard as long we have the consistency and will to add high value to these sectors.


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon