Sole supplier of electrical products in Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Al-Ojaimi Group has been instrumental in bringing many projects to life in the kingdom
At Middle East Electricity (MEE) in Dubai, Abbad S Ahmed, executive manager at Al-Ojaimi Energy Services spoke with Technical Review Middle East as to why they did not exhibit at the show and their future plans.
Ahmed says, ?We used to participate in the earlier editions of MEE. We are currently restructuring the company and hence we could not make time for coming to this year?s edition. However, we are still here to meet customers and potential clients and further Al-Ojaimi?s business in the region and beyond.?
He reiterates, ?For us, MEE is the meeting point and we have found that many European customers like those from Italy, Germany have generated interest in the Middle East market. The growing number of Chinese presence in the region is a testimony to this. All of them know that the opportunity is immense here. Irrespective of the market conditions for the last two years, we have seen that the show is still going strong as ever and this is what proves that all is not lost with respect to business here. We are now optimistic.?
The contracting and manufacturing company is based in Saudi Arabia and its main business lies in the electrical sector in the kingdom.
?For electrical market, we manufacture distribution transformers, low voltage panels, insulated and enamel wires. For contracting, we work on substations, overhead lines and underground cables. Al-Ojaimi has eight branches all across the country and have more than 5,000 employees.?
Despite economic challenges in the kingdom currently, Ahmed points out that the power market in Saudi Arabia is booming and stresses that even with projects on the standstill, the opportunities to expand the electricity sector is massive. ?Saudi Arabia?s Vision 2030 is moving in the right track and the growth will not stop. The coming five years will be deciding point and I think the projects in the kingdom will rise manifold.?
The company is currently working on many projects including in Riyadh for three substations of 132kV as well as network integration projects in Riyadh, Dammam, Jubail, AI-Hassa and Jeddah. Ahmed revealed that Al-Ojaimi Group has more than US$800mn investments in Saudi Arabia.
More investments mean expansion and Ahmed confirms that the group is expanding its manufacturing facilities in Dammam and Riyadh to expand their range of products including medium voltage switchgears, power cables and power transformers. ?In our bid to expand into more sectors like paper manufacturing, we have created a new business Gulfply and it is currently under construction. The investment in this company is around US$34mn.?
