Sezad affirms to enhance contribution of SMEs

Business Saturday 25/May/2019 18:10 PM
By: Times News Service
Sezad affirms to enhance contribution of SMEs

Muscat : Yahya bin Said bin Abdullah Al Jabri, Chairman of Sezad issued a decision confirming the enhancement of the contribution of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the SEZD development projects.
This came out of the keenness of the Special Economic Zone Authority at Duqm (Sezad) and its follow-up and encouragement to SMEs operating in the Special Economic Zone Authority at Duqm (SEZD) to benefit from the available investment opportunities. Sezad or the companies in which the Sezad contributes by 50 per cent ensure that the contracts to which it is a party, stipulates that the implementing companies shall allocate 10 per cent at least of the total value of the work assigned to SMEs.
The decision of the Sezad, which was approved by Al Jabri, stipulates that the Partnership and Development Department shall prepare a list stating the names and sufficient data for SMEs registered in the commercial register in the region, which have entrepreneurs card willing to be assigned with the works. Provided, they shall be classified according to technical competence, financial ability and previous experience. The Department must update data and classification periodically.
The decision stipulates that the works tender documents that will be assigned to SMEs must be included and the standard for assigning the works to SMEs must be taken into account when analysing tenders, as one of the criteria to be relied upon at the tender evaluation stage.
For equal opportunities for all, the Sezad’s Partnership and Development Department must coordinate with the implementing companies to select the SMEs to which the business will be assigned from among those recorded in the register. It must also follow up the compliance of the implementing companies with 10 per cent allocated for the SMEs.
Meanwhile, the Sezad has set the necessary procedures to ensure that the SMEs practices are facilitated by a SMEs Division of the Partnership and Development Department in the Sezad to obtain the desired support easily.
As for the quality of the works or activities that can be assigned to SMEs, they have been stated in a detailed list as part of the decision, such as the initial equipment for the work sites, the provision of engineering and professional services, the provision of machinery, equipment and the electrical work, the provision of safety services at the sites, civil and construction works, the cleaning and maintenance services, gardening, catering services, auto maintenance, and the provision of all types of supply services and other services.
Abdulaziz Al Hinai, Director of the Partnership and Development Department at Sezad, said that this decision affirms the Sezad's keenness to empower SMEs and enhance their contribution to the region, as well as benefiting from 10 per cent while ensuring that this percentage is given to them. The amounts obtained by these institutions since 2015 to 2019 are about OMR59.228 million, while the number of SMEs registered in the Sezad reached 613 SMEs.
Al Hinai added that we are working to set a mechanism for these tenders to SMEs in order to maximise and enhance their contribution to the economic development projects of the region.