Middle East construction sector to overtake Europe & North America with 3.5 per cent annual growth rate over the next five years

Middle East construction sector to overtake Europe & North America with 3.5 per cent annual growth rate over the next five years

More project management expertise needed for trillion-dollar MENA projects


More project management (PM) expertise is needed to sustain trillion-dollar project-driven developments across the MENA region. The Middle East’s thriving construction sector alone is expected to post an annual growth rate of 3.5 per cent over the next five years to place ahead of Europe and North America and third behind Asia. The Gulf in particular has around USD 1.35 trillion worth of active civil building projects requiring the latest PM technologies and techniques.

Collaboration, Management and Control Solutions (CMCS), a leading Portfolio Project Management (PPM) firm in the Middle East, has launched an educational campaign to train businesses and individuals from across the region on advanced tools and skills to meet demand for world-class PM capabilities. The company is the first organization to be authorized by Oracle University, the global educational arm of enterprise software company Oracle Corp., to deliver certified Oracle Primavera training programs in the Middle East. The company will commence its regional tour in Doha, Qatar on February 28, 2010 at the W Doha Hotel along with local partner Nasser Bin Nawaf & Partners Holdings, part of the NBK Group. The campaign will cover Egypt, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Dubai, the KSA, Jordan and Oman throughout the year.

“As one of the world’s most project-driven markets, the MENA region has to ensure that it has access to the best PM tools to maintain its competitive edge. Through our educational campaign we aim to enhance PM competency throughout the region, particularly when it comes to PPM. While PM methods are used to properly manage projects, PPM enables organizations to select the right projects, which is a very critical activity given today’s tight markets. We want to promote these two concepts so that the region can excel in both project selection and execution,” said Bassam Samman, CEO and Founder, CMCS.

During its year-long campaign, CMCS will emphasize the importance of solutions from Oracle Primavera, Synchro Ltd. and EarthCam, the premier international network of live public access webcams, in optimizing PM in general and PPM in particular. The company has been engaging in similar education-oriented initiatives, such as its recent signing of a Memorandum of Agreement with American University of Sharjah (AUS) to train AUS students and alumni on Primavera software and its applications.

Collaboration, Management and Control Solutions has been connected with Oracle Primavera for more than 25 years and led the major PM markets of China and Australia as the biggest Primavera partner in the world in 2007 and 2008. CMCS has received 49 Performance Awards and Recognitions from Oracle Primavera and is recognized as the Middle East’s leading project portfolio management service provider. The company maintains partnerships with more than 1,400 clients representing various industries ranging from Engineering and Construction to education and Information and Communications Technology.