Small companies in Qatar facing problems

Small-scale industries that hold the key to Qatar’s diversification effort are battling a host of problems, which are created by the government, according to the owners of these companies.

A nationality-wise quota policy followed by the state for work visas and standards and specifications for industrial spare parts that are described by owners as complicated are major woes facing small manufacturers here.

According to a report on The Peninsula, an owner of a small metal factory told a popular programme of Qatar Radio yesterday that small-scale industries don’t get visas for engineers and technicians of nationalities of their choice and that greatly impedes their work.

Abu Ahmed told Qatar Radio’s call-in programme Good Morning, My Beloved Country, that if an owner of a small factory, for example, wants 10 engineers from a particular country which he thinks suits his needs, the immigration department would allow him only one.

“And they would ask you to bring the remaining nine from some other country,” he said. “The thing is, as factory owners we, and not the immigration officials, know our requirements for manpower.”

In Oman, for instance, they would allow you to bring workers, including professionals, from the nationality of your choice and would only make sure that you pay them as per rules and on time and provide them the right accommodation, said Abu Ahmed.

“So while in Oman the emphasis is on a factory following rules, in Qatar the stress is on the nationality of a worker being hired, which is detrimental to industrial growth,” he said.

“Why should the government tell us which country we should get an engineer or technician from? Being in the business we are the best judge,” said Abu Ahmed.

Imagine that you travel long distances and interview engineers and technicians in countries of your choice and when you come back to Doha and apply for their visas, you are told that you cannot recruit them due to their nationality.

“This is not done. This is discouraging small manufacturers.”

Abu Ahmed told the radio programme that small and medium-sized factories were facing problems also because they were unable to import spare parts due to the new specifications and standards.

Qatar has begun implementing unified GCC specifications and standards that are quite complicated. “In fact, while other GCC states and Qatar have inked a deal to enforce these rules, only Qatar is respecting the agreement.”

According to Abu Ahmed, factory owners import spare parts but they are stuck at the port for want of approval by the standards and specifications department of the environment ministry.

“The result is that the small factories needing spare parts are suffering huge losses,” he said. In fact, the paperwork to set up a factory in Qatar is simple but these are the formidable challenges they face.

Not unaware of what’s going on, other GCC states are inviting small factory owners in Qatar to set up shop in their countries, said Abu Ahmed.

These countries say they don’t have nationality restrictions for work visas or restrictions related to standards and specifications.

“These are the countries that are on paper committed to enforcing unified GCC standards and specifications, but they are not. They are flexible, so why can’t we be like them?”

Abu Ahmed said if small manufacturers are harassed like they are and keep suffering losses, they would shut shop. The situation, he said, was such that his factory which was exporting metal products to the UAE and Kuwait for use in the construction industry earlier, has stopped.

“On the contrary, Qatar is now importing these materials from these two countries.” This is creating inflation. Prices of materials are rising as many factories are unable to import materials according to the new standards and specifications.

This means that small Qatari manufacturers are losing out to their competitors from other GCC states and the burden of price rise is being eventually transferred to the hapless consumer, said Abu Ahmed.