Syria to develop $10.36b projects by 2015

Dubai - Syria is witnessing an influx of high-profile private and public investment projects totaling $10.36 billion as the government races towards achieving its goals of five-year development plan, said an expert.

These cover the residential, retail, hospitality, office, leisure infrastructure, energy, and tourism sectors and involve prominent investors such as the UAE’s Majid Al Futtaim Group and Al Qudra Holding, Qatari Diar and Syrian Qatari Holding, Emaar- IGO, Bin Laden Group, and Khorafi Group, according to Bassam Samman, CEO and founder of Collaboration, Management and Control Solutions (CMCS), a leading provider of project portfolio management solutions.

Syria’s new five-year development plan emphasizes the need for the country’s public and private sectors to set up partnerships and invest in project management solutions as a means to help reduce instances of project failure, while at the same time providing an efficient way to monitor project performance, he noted.

According to Samman, closer collaboration between both sectors can help in achieving strategic objectives, identifying realistic investments and completion dates, assigning a qualified team to oversee project execution and avoiding performance errors that can negatively affect projects.

Risk management experts predict an increased adoption of project management practices and solutions in Syria as the country unveils plans for more development projects for the remainder of 2010 and for the next five-year plan to be launched in December 2010.

The forecasted increase complements the country’s next development phase, which aims to attract more foreign investments, build more infrastructure facilities and package the country as an ideal investment hub in the Middle East.

“The Syrian Government is aggressively moving towards achieving the set goals of their five-year development plan. The government has already announced a number of projects for the remainder of 2010 and for the next development period,’ Samman noted.

“In line with this, key stakeholders from both the public and private sectors are now looking towards increasing the adoption of project management practices to effectively meet their strategic objectives.”

“Moreover, global financial institutions like the World Bank and the European Investment Bank are now requiring project management in the projects that they fund,” he added.

Bassam pointed out that Syria’s private sector has taken the lead in adopting project management solutions, with the public sector slowly catching up.

He further shared that leading companies like Cham Holdings and Souria Holdings have already started utilizing project management solutions and are now reaping positive results.

‘CMCS lauds the Syrian Government for its continuous efforts in making the country an ideal investment venue.