The past year has been a highly successful one for the well-diversified Al Osais International which has been busy with several major projects in Saudi Arabia in the wake of an upsurge in activity across the region as the company continues to multiply and intensify its capabilities.

“From the point of the company's growth, 2007 proved to be excellent. We have secured and executed many projects and are confident of winning several other jobs,” says Abdul Rahman Moraisel, vice president of Al Osais International Holding Company which has business interests in construction, industrial services, manufacturing, transportation, equipment rental and trading and investments.
“The construction industry of the kingdom has benefited hugely from its surging oil revenue and the channelling of the surpluses into infrastructure development. There is an estimated $200 billion worth of active projects in the kingdom with still more expected. This sector gears itself to satisfy the growing demand for residential, commercial, housing and institutional construction as well as build the rapidly-expanding industrial infrastructure. I feel that the construction sector will grow at the rate of five per cent over the 2008 to 2011 period,” points out Moraisel.
Elaborating on the growth of the company over the past year, he says: “We have had a number of business developments within the company over the past year. As a holding company, we have successfully expanded our existing capabilities into the power construction sector by starting a new power division to attend mainly to the growing requirements of Saudi Electricity Company. We have established a new joint venture in association with Spain-based Inabensa for the construction, operation and maintenance of all projects in the field of overhead transmission lines and substations of 380 kV or higher capacity,” he adds.
Last year, Al Osais also established two companies in the field of industrial technology and logistics, known as RS Lanes Logistics and Gaptec. While RS Lanes Logistics is a complete logistic solution provider to the industrial and commercial sector in the kingdom operating with a modern fleet of electronic equipment, Gaptec is a consulting firm in the field of process optimisation providing technical studies, software tools, training and basic engineering for energy and process industries.
The company also carried out a partial restructuring of the management and other departments within the company over the last year. As a part of this measure, the company has decided to implement SAP ERP in its work process to ensure its operational excellence and to render quality services to its customers, according to Moraisel.
Commenting on plans for the future, he says: “Over the next year, we are eyeing new growth areas in the Middle East markets while focusing on restructuring our current operation and adding new services. We have plans in the pipeline to further enhance our telecom sector by adding more services through alliances with specialised companies. We are also targeting an upgrade of our logistic division (RS Lanes) to cover most of the aspect of logistics sector and intend to acquire shares and equities in the field of finance and insurance.”
Established in 1976 in Dammam, Al Osais is one of Saudi Arabia's leading investment companies with diverse interests and capabilities. Staffed with around 6,000 employees, the company registered a turnover of SR1.5 billion ($400 million) last year and is one of the fastest growing organisations in the kingdom. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, it has established a remarkable position in various sectors including civil engineering and construction, pipeline and industrial services, transportation and road construction, structural steel, rental equipment, manufacturing and investment among others. Its subsidiaries and affiliates are located in Jubail, Riyadh, Yanbu and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Doha in Qatar, Shuwaikh in Kuwait, Ruwi in Oman, Abu Dhabi in the UAE and Bahrain.
The company’s scope of activities include a wide range of construction fields such as civil, mechanical, telecommunications, substations and overhead lines, roadworks, earthworks and pipelines installation; HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) design; consulting and engineering services; maintenance services for petrochemical and oil and gas industries; thrustboring and pipelines services; inspection and technical services; transportation and logistics; real estate; heavy equipment rental; industrial process technology; training and software licensing; frozen food warehousing and logistics; and petroleum services.
The company is also a leading trader and supplier of industrial, electrical, structural and telecom products as well as structural steel, industrial wax and weighing scales.
As a major holding company, Al Osais has been able to contribute its services to some of the landmark projects in the kingdom. It has just been awarded a SR210 million order for the 500-bed Baljurashi hospital in Al Baha by the Ministry of Health. Some of its ongoing projects include a number of projects for Saudi Aramco such as the central processing common facilities project in Khurais, a SR500 million contract for the Khurais central processing residential and recreational complex and a program site preparation project at Khursaniyah; as well as a deal to supply power in Qassim to Saudi Aramco, NCDC and NPOC with SEC-COA as the client and the King Abdul Aziz general hospital in Skaka for the Ministry of Health.