Khayyat
Contracting & Trading says Qatari supply is key as it looks to maximise its
local consumption and minimise imports from other countries for its projects on
the peninsula.
Khayyat
Contracting & Trading (KCT) is picking up a growing number of projects in Qatar
and though there is pressure on the supply chain the company says it will stand
firm in encouraging local supply, which will ultimately save on time and money
in the market.
Moataz Al-Khayat, CEO of KCT, notes: “We
are emphasising local supply, because the best way for you to save is to source
your materials from the country you are in, and in Qatar this will prompt the
creation of a market which can accommodate everything that is going on in the
country.”
“We need to
move at the same pace as the vision for Qatar, and as the market has not yet shown
the strength and cohesion to provide all the commodities and trades for
construction, we need to support it to ensure that local business doesn’t get
left behind.”
KCT is also setting up both warehouses to enable
the purchase and storage of local materials in bulk, and is also considering
fixed period supply agreements with certain local companies.
Issam Atef,
procurement director at KCT, details: “We have opened warehouses for all the
materials that we are going to be using on a regular basis in order to
streamline our supply chain. When it’s needed, it’s there, and it’s bought at a
price that beats the market given its quality.”
The only
caveat comes when the order is so huge that it simply cannot be bought locally,
“but otherwise we are looking for the future to verify certain proven companies
to work with us that,” adds Atef, noting: “We are now making limited one-year
agreements.”
The
contractor in particular hopes that with time it will be able to identify the
reliable suppliers in the market, and to eliminate any non-effective parties
employing opportunistic tactics.
“We
are very pleased with the achievement of putting the procurement department on
the track, and to be moving away from short-term agreements. The procurement
department is not there just to pass papers,” nods Khayyat.
“We do not
want a bureaucratic kind of dealing – it is supposed to be effective in
controlling cost, and in ensuring the supply of materials, the timeliness of
supply and that the payment is there.”
A final
point is to ensure that the internal procedures of local projects do not make
correct procurement a secondary matter in order to accommodate the pace, so KCT is focusing
its efforts on streamlining its processes to confine costs while accommodating all
of its sites.
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