Haya Water continues to support small businesses
In 2017 Haya Water awarded more than OMR1 million in closed tenders to SMEs, as well as over half a million Omani rials to SMEs in open tenders
Times News Service
MUSCAT: As part of its national responsibility, Haya Water has paid great attention to supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) by granting them tenders on a large share of the company’s projects.
“The SMEs play an important role in developing the Sultanate’s economy through providing Omani youth with many job opportunities. The company’s support comes in allocating and attributing a portion of tenders and projects to SMEs,” Eng. Hussain bin Hassan AbdulHussain, Haya Water CEO, said.
He added that these initiatives have resulted in Haya Water winning the award for SMEs’ best sponsor among major governmental companies in 2015.
Further, AbdulHussain noted that in 2017 Haya Water awarded more than OMR1 million in closed tenders to SMEs, as well as over half a million Omani rials to SMEs in open tenders, he said.
As for those tenders in which large size companies are committed to granting SMEs 10 per cent of the value of all tenders, these amounted to approximately OMR1.5 million, exceeding the original percentage.
“In terms of training, Haya Water works continuously to host many training workshops for SME owners who are registered with Haya Water. The training programmes seek to refine their skills on the fundamentals of business, and how to raise their levels of public performance. The training also covers methods of bidding and sound financial management that ensures achieving good profits. Besides, there are technical workshops that are also being held to prepare the SME owners to work in the waste water sector,” AbdulHussain said.
“The company provided eight training courses in 2016, and five in 2017. As a result, 69 SMEs owners benefited from those programmes. These courses are offered at no cost, based upon the Company’s strategy to support the community,” he said.
The Contracts and Tenders section examine tenders and ensures that SMEs receive their shares prior to announcing them in the market.
Exemption
AbdulHussain confirmed that the SMEs were exempt from registration fees in the company’s procurement and bidding system. Tender fees for these companies were also eliminated, in order to speed the procedures and provide support to them.
AbdulHussain also confirmed that Haya Water has developed objectives to support and develop small and medium enterprises. As much as 22, 25, 21, 25 and 28 per cent of purchases and services were allocated for SMEs in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 respectively. In addition, 274 small and medium sized enterprises were registered to qualify for tenders with Haya Water during these five years.