Ashgal also claimed eight international safety awards from the British Safety Council for the Local Areas Infrastructure Programme project.

Qatar’s Public Works Authority, Ashghal, received the ‘Recognised for Excellence Five Stars’ award from the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) in Belgium.

In a statement on Saturday, Ashghal said it has been recognised as an ‘Outstanding Organisation’, the first such governmental entity to receive the title under the “new[ly] improved” EFQM 2020.

The certification is given to a limited number of institutions globally.

“Continuing diligence with unceasing institutional planning and development has resulted in the excellence that we seek and aspire to reach its highest levels. Thanks to our employees, unequivocal efforts and determination to be part of this huge success,” Saad Al Muhannadi, President of Ashghal, said.

Al Muhannadi urged his company’s leaders and employees to continue to thrive and aim for higher excellence standards.

The EFQM 2020 model is based on seven criteria, including a company’s “purpose and strategic vision, institutional culture and leadership” among others.

Several trainings were developed to advance the public work’s company’s Journey to Excellence over the past years.

“It [Journey to Excellence] had evolved over the past few years, since the authority began developing and improving policies, procedures and compliance governance of an integrated enterprise-wide management system,” Jama Al Kaabi, Manager of the Planning and Quality Department at Ashghal, said.

In 2016, the EFQM granted Ashghal the ‘Committed to Excellence’ recognition, followed by ISO credits in 2019, and a three-star rating in 2021.

Last month, the company’s Roads Projects Department claimed eight international safety awards from the British Safety Council for the Local Areas Infrastructure Programme project in 2023 for the fourth consecutive year.

Out of the projects, the Roads and Infrastructure Project in Umm Slal won the International Safety Award with Distinction, the highest grade in this category. 

Also in May, Ashghal announced the launch of 22 new projects worth a whopping 4.1 billion QAR ($1.12 billion) for 2023.

Out of these projects, six have already been awarded and 10 are currently in the process of implementation, with an estimated value of over 3 billion QAR ($822 million), according to Projects Affairs Director at Ashghal, Yousef Al Emadi.

These projects include the development of Hamad Medical Corporation, the building of Madinat Khalifa Health Centre, Qatar Academy Sidra and the Ministry of Municipality’s Veterinary Laboratories.

The six projects are worth an estimated 1.1 billion QAR ($302 million) and include the construction and development of several buildings in coordination with various authorities.

Al Emadi stated that another set of projects are planned to be launched in the third quarter of this year.