Calling the shots

The company has a stellar list of government clients in the GCC and overseas.
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“But it’s also more of a respect issue. These countries have developed enough to pick and choose and inject their own identity into the equation and we have to respond to that. A typical project will incorporate overseas experience from global operations, expat experience from employees who have worked in traditional Western sectors, and local talent that can bridge the gap with the client and prevent a lapse in communication.”

In terms of industry trends, Scoble sees a few developments on the horizon. Not only is the shift from thermal desalination to RO playing into the company’s hands, but it’s also clear that the issue of water reuse is becoming increasingly important.

Gulf nations are already looking at recycling water for irrigation, and also for district cooling. On that note, he sees Abu Dhabi’s plan to recycle 100% of its water by 2015 as entirely possible, and believes the authorities are going about this plan in the right way.
 

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But recycling for potable usage is still some way off, mainly due to cultural perceptions. “The way I think it will work in this part of the world is via aquifer recharge – so we can treat the water to potable quality but deliver it to an aquifer rather than the tap,” says the director.

“Management of aquifers and groundwater is crucial – the way they’re being used at the moment is completely unsustainable.”

Scoble thinks that the firm has probably weathered the storm in terms of the recession. While it has been a tough period – MWH lost around 6-7% of staff in the region – the executive believes it is performing well in relation to its competitors as a result of its focus on government clients.

“Looking ahead, we want to continue working for those kind of clients, plus extra work in Kuwait, KSA, and also Qatar and Oman,” Scoble outlines. “We aim to expand carefully from a geographical perspective and once we have a good base, we can look at programme management opportunities.”

On the programme management side, MWH is leading the water sector in markets such as the US and UK and hopes to bring this service to strategic clients in the region. MWH is also seeing that clients locally are taking are taking a more structured approach towards asset management.

“We have lots of ideas, systems and tools to help our clients,” the executive adds. “We can help with redesigning business organisation, asset management accreditation and asset management optimisation, which is more of a management consulting angle.”

For the time being, though, MWH is happy to focus on the fundamentals and continue to work with its strong set of strategic clients in the region. “The only way you can be successful as a consultant is to be your client’s trusted adviser,” Scoble concludes.

“We promote people and train people on how to be a trusted adviser – it’s absolutely key to us. We can go and win projects fairly easily, but we need to guard our reputation because at the end of the day that’s all that counts.”

MWH and Libya’s Great Man Made River
This project will last approximately 12 months and will take water from the Great Man Made River and deliver it to over 15,000 farms on the Coastal Plan located to the south of Tripoli. The network will be divided into 6 separate zones, to allow efficient management of the water system. Each zone will be provided with 1495 litre per second.

This agricultural area covers approximately 80,000 Ha and provides a range of produce including fruit, olives and vegetables to local and international markets. The provision of this water will improve the livelihood of local farmers.