The Project Management Division of the Saudi Society for Urban Sciences held a specialized evening for project management and its role in national privatization programs by Dr. Faisal Al-Sharif under the management of Dr. Abdullah Al-Khurmani in the presence of a number of specialists and those interested in project management and development in the Kingdom.
The evening began with a talk on the concept of privatization and its controls that depend on disclosure, clarity, speed of implementation and schedules, where the presenter Dr. Faisal Al-Sharif indicated that privatization processes that proceed slowly are more likely to fail, indicating the need to change the work pattern to reach the highest possible performance of the privatization program.<He noted that the most important objectives of privatization programs come to provide financial resources to the public sector and get rid of the financial burdens that burden governments, in addition to increasing the focus on the core business, as well as deepening the quality of production and efficiency in operation. He added that the motives of privatization are reduced to the losses of the public sector and its responsibility for the budget deficit, swelling public debt and increasing unemployment.
He touched on the concept of project management, which aims to organize and manage resources in a way that enables the completion of the project by respecting its specific content and taking into account quality, timing and cost factors, and therefore privatization works are considered projects with specific objectives and pre-planned outputs, whether it is the sale of assets or participation from the private sector, stressing that the password in the success of “privatization projects” 0 to be managed as projects to which all processes are applied to ensure that the planned objectives are achieved on time, approved cost and required quality.
>10 Problems facing privatization programs in the Kingdom
Dr. Faisal Al-Sharif went on to talk about the problems facing privatization programs, which are the dominance of administrators and financiers and the absence of the role of project managers, while many influential specialists (high-ranking ), delays in completion and the length of procedures, the complexity of privatization processes, resistance to change, the need to qualify projects for privatization, the achievement of the necessary knowledge, the availability of manpower to make the project successful, and the power of decision-making.
>Misunderstanding of privatization
"Al-Sharif" stated that there is an issue in understanding privatization projects, especially with regard to the citizen, where the citizen fears that the burdens on him will increase if government facilities such as education and health are privatized, there is a difference between construction and operation and the inevitability of some decisions such as free education and the right to obtain government insurance for treatment in any place, and vice versa the citizen has the right to obtain his health rights in the best way in any place, whether government or private.
Sherif continued: "We see many examples of the success of privatization, which succeeded in reducing operating costs and services for the citizen, such as telecommunications, which opened the competition to private companies, all of which is in the interest of the citizen."
>Status of public sector employees Regarding employees working in the public sector, Dr. Sharif said that there is a form of contracting that must change, but in all cases the state studies and approves regulations related to giving the employee the opportunity to empower, train and transfer him in a smooth manner to the private sector without harming him.<He pointed out that the transfer of state services to full privatization is abnormal and has no basis in reality, as the percentage of change and transfer may reach 20 percent at its maximum, so the obsession that appears among employees and workers in the public sector is completely unfounded with the government's keenness to provide a safe environment for employees.
Privatization of the sports field
Regarding privatization in the sports field, Dr. Abdullah Al-Khurmani said that privatization projects in the sports field found many issues unlike other fields such as post and telecommunications and others, and Dr. “Al-Sharif” indicated that the sports field has many great qualifications that allow it to be privatized, it is one of the largest fields that can be privatized and we are waiting for successful steps to transform it and qualify it to keep pace with comprehensive privatization plans.
>National cadre to support project management
For his part, Dr. Abdullah Al-Khurmani stated that the Project Management Division in Jumaa is currently working to conclude special agreements with government agencies to qualify a national cadre that contributes to advancing the achievement of Vision 2030 through intensive conferences and activities, while he indicated that the division will announce all details within days, God willing.
The panel discussion concluded with Dr. Faisal Al-Sharif's answer about protecting the state's assets in the event of privatization. He pointed out that the assets are usually depreciated and the private sector is the one who develops them, but in general, special requirements are set to preserve the assets and develop them in a way that preserves the state's resources.
Dr. Faisal Al-Sharif thanked the Saudi Society for Urban Sciences, the attendees and the organizers of the meeting, while Dr. Abdullah Al-Khurmani thanked Dr. Faisal on behalf of the management of the Society and the Project Management Division.
