Nice weather and a relaxed environment tend to make people more optimistic, which may explain the happy demeanour of most people you meet in Oman.
Often when you visit a place it can be difficult to put a finger on why people seem optimistic, but there’s more to this country’s mood than the seaside and some sunshine.
At our inaugural Leaders in Construction summit in Muscat – held on 22 October – delegates from across the construction supply chain had plenty to say about the pros and cons of working in the country. But the event also gave me a chance to run a brief and informal survey of business confidence, at least in the construction sector.
Delegates were asked to select from three multi-choice options in response to seven questions. These asked for views on construction costs, staff numbers, turnover and other factors intended to provide a view of the sector’s outlook for next year. To be fair, with the more positive feeling currently spreading through the entire GCC market, a broadly upbeat response was to be expected.
What proved a surprise though was the extent to which things were upbeat. Roughly speaking more than 70% of respondents are expecting business to be better next year. They’re also expecting to hire more people, bid for more work and boost company turnover.
On the flipside, everyone was smart enough to realise that more business would come at a cost. Inflationary pressures are afoot and greater demand from a busier industry will only increase prices.
Add in the higher minimum wage imposed by new government regulations back in February and it’s easy to see why the question asking people if they thought costs would go up, got the highest number of positive responses.
Government spending, current and projected, may be driving the optimism. A small majority of respondents believed they were more likely to be bidding for infrastructure projects than any other type. Twice the number of people thought government projects would have the most influence on their business than those who thought the private sector would.
Having spent years and billions improving power and water security, transport’s turn has certainly come. Major road projects are building better links with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as within Oman itself. The scale and complexity of the road works is impressive; it also makes for some great driving.
The PMV business in the country will see some direct and indirect benefits from this. For one, better links will lead to more trucks on the road, which means someone has to sell and service them. But firstly, building hundreds of kilometres of roading through often mountainous and rocky terrain, is a machinery-heavy business.
A great summit presentation from Galfar Engineering & Contracting’s Grant Gellatly, the project director behind the Muscat Expressway, showed the extent of the works sometimes required. His imagery featured hilltops sculpted into curvaceous bends, hillsides cut back into smooth rocky terraces and roads perched atop tens of metres of retaining.
Bending this much rock to your will takes trucks, breakers, bulldozers and, in all likelihood, quite a bit of explosive. And that’s all before an inch of asphalt hits the ground. It’s a tough environment too, so only the good kit will last the distance.
Developments at Muscat’s new airport are making visible progress too. The terminal buildings are being constructed to deal with a predicted 12 million passengers a year and will be a plush improvement on the current airport offer.
Successful management of that much passenger traffic will need a much larger collection of the electric vehicles that scurry over the runway aprons. Suppliers of the Muscat taxi fleet vehicles maybe in for a bumper year when the airport opens too.
Perhaps these are only some of the tangible factors giving the Omani construction sector a sense of optimism, but on the whole, it certainly appears to be more than a feeling.
More than a feeling
There is a palpable sense of optimism in the Oman construction sector
Nice weather and a relaxed environment tend to make people more optimistic, which may explain the happy demeanour of most people you meet in Oman.
Often when you visit a place it can be difficult to put a finger on why people seem optimistic, but there’s more to this country’s mood than the seaside and some sunshine.
At our inaugural Leaders in Construction summit in Muscat – held on 22 October – delegates from across the construction supply chain had plenty to say about the pros and cons of working in the country. But the event also gave me a chance to run a brief and informal survey of business confidence, at least in the construction sector.
Delegates were asked to select from three multi-choice options in response to seven questions. These asked for views on construction costs, staff numbers, turnover and other factors intended to provide a view of the sector’s outlook for next year. To be fair, with the more positive feeling currently spreading through the entire GCC market, a broadly upbeat response was to be expected.
What proved a surprise though was the extent to which things were upbeat. Roughly speaking more than 70% of respondents are expecting business to be better next year. They’re also expecting to hire more people, bid for more work and boost company turnover.
On the flipside, everyone was smart enough to realise that more business would come at a cost. Inflationary pressures are afoot and greater demand from a busier industry will only increase prices.
Add in the higher minimum wage imposed by new government regulations back in February and it’s easy to see why the question asking people if they thought costs would go up, got the highest number of positive responses.
Government spending, current and projected, may be driving the optimism. A small majority of respondents believed they were more likely to be bidding for infrastructure projects than any other type. Twice the number of people thought government projects would have the most influence on their business than those who thought the private sector would.
Having spent years and billions improving power and water security, transport’s turn has certainly come. Major road projects are building better links with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as within Oman itself. The scale and complexity of the road works is impressive; it also makes for some great driving.
The PMV business in the country will see some direct and indirect benefits from this. For one, better links will lead to more trucks on the road, which means someone has to sell and service them. But firstly, building hundreds of kilometres of roading through often mountainous and rocky terrain, is a machinery-heavy business.
A great summit presentation from Galfar Engineering & Contracting’s Grant Gellatly, the project director behind the Muscat Expressway, showed the extent of the works sometimes required. His imagery featured hilltops sculpted into curvaceous bends, hillsides cut back into smooth rocky terraces and roads perched atop tens of metres of retaining.
Bending this much rock to your will takes trucks, breakers, bulldozers and, in all likelihood, quite a bit of explosive. And that’s all before an inch of asphalt hits the ground. It’s a tough environment too, so only the good kit will last the distance.
Developments at Muscat’s new airport are making visible progress too. The terminal buildings are being constructed to deal with a predicted 12 million passengers a year and will be a plush improvement on the current airport offer.
Successful management of that much passenger traffic will need a much larger collection of the electric vehicles that scurry over the runway aprons. Suppliers of the Muscat taxi fleet vehicles maybe in for a bumper year when the airport opens too.
Perhaps these are only some of the tangible factors giving the Omani construction sector a sense of optimism, but on the whole, it certainly appears to be more than a feeling.