Project-management academy set up to support development programme in UAE

ABU DHABI // The Government will launch a project-management platform this week to streamline its Dh2.5 trillion development programme.

The platform, which has been in development for several years, will establish proper structures and methodologies to manage projects across sectors ranging from education to construction.

“With planned infrastructure developments across the country worth US$690 billion, the role of certified project managers in the UAE is critical to ensuring that projects are delivered in an efficient manner, to the highest standards of safety and quality, on time and within budget,” said Mohammed Al Hammadi, the chief executive of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation and chairman of the newly established Emirates Project Management Academy.

The academy, in Abu Dhabi, has been developed on an academic and professional track.

“We have brought the best practices from around the world and combined them to fulfil our needs for project management in the UAE,” Mr Al Hammadi said.

“The UAE has developed rapidly over the past 40 years, but some projects were done ad hoc and were either over budget, not to the expected quality or not delivered on time.

“We can have the biggest projects and plans on paper but without the skills and structured methodologies, these will remain just plans on paper.”

Mohammed Al Shehhi, the deputy chief executive of the academy, said only 35 per cent of projects worldwide were delivered on time and within the original budget and scope.

Building a solid project-management community through the academy, which aspires to become the leading body for project-management professionals, will allow the country to be fully geared towards successfully managing projects in multiple sectors, Mr Al Hammadi said.

“We are also looking to incorporate the project management mentality into the education systems to have students graduate from high school with the skills.”

Members of the board of trustees at the academy come from the education sector, and the oil and gas and nuclear energy industries.

“We will formulate plans and exchange best practices from our own experiences and international ones and then introduce them to the sectors we are in,” Mr Al Hammadi said.

“I am an electrical engineer, I have done a master’s in project management and have worked from a site engineer to now becoming the chief executive of one of the largest projects in the Middle East,” he said. This is all due to the structure and methodology in project management.”

The academy will offer corporate and individual memberships and services including training, discounts on educational courses, industry meetings and workshops.