Public infrastructure is considered a national wealth. And it is necessary to maintain and preserve them, whether for their cultural, or functional value. Maintenance is the key to preserving this wealth by adapting the building to changing requirements and needs. Public Sector Units (PSU) and government entities are focusing on employing sustainable and costefficient FM services solutions postpandemic. Some of the sectors where FM companies can work along with government entities on a larger scale are energy, water distribution, street lighting system, public highways, etc. These remain mostly untouched by an organized FM sector.

In an interview with Ahmad Al Moosawi, Director - Client Relations at Ejadah Asset Management Group, he reveals that although this is still an insufficiently tapped sector, it plays an important role in opening up new opportunities to facilities management companies. “With most of the public infrastructure sector still unexplored, it’s time for FM companies to develop inhouse service delivery capabilities and approach the PS units and government entities with costeffective service delivery solutions,” says Ahmad Al Moosawi.

Dubai is one of the forefront runners of developing iconic & world-class infrastructure, make it all the easier for FM companies to broaden their perspectives to win new businesses, suggests Ahmad Al Moosawi. “Most of the currently dominating companies in the GCC region had built their technical capabilities and foundations from Dubai in as early as 2008-09. This was when Dubai was rapidly building its infrastructure. This brought and opened extensive opportunities for many western and regional FM providers to start a business in Dubai,” says Ahmad Al Moosawi.

Benefits & Impact

Ahmad Al Moosawi interestingly compares the benefits of regularly maintaining the infrastructure to the maintenance of the human body. “The more frequently you maintain yourself in different aspects, the younger you look and the less you need to visit a doctor. The same rule applies to infrastructures. Regular, fundamental, maintenance keeps assets healthy, hence, enhances their lifecycle. It also brings down the overall CAPEX expenditure on major refurbishments and breakdowns, increases the efficiency of the asset, and positively impacts the overall aesthetic and environment of the city,” he adds.

Challenges

 Every job comes with its specific challenges. When it comes to public infrastructure, Ahmad Al Moosawi, says that all the utility assets and essential services are co-related. This is why it is important to be always perceptive and responsive. Ahmad Al Moosawi notes that one must possess immense technical knowledge, patience, and determination while dealing with infrastructure concerns. “The smallest margin of error is non-negligible in this sector.

A small mistake can be fatal. To overcome these challenges, we, at Ejadah, provide different technical, motivational, communication, and safety training throughout our organizational matrix,” he adds.

Ejadah ensures there is no compromise in delivering these services. And provide adequate training from MEP to automation, safety training, chemical handling, and dosing, working on heights, working in confined spaces, motivation, and communication. These various pieces of training are very helpful in overcoming most of the challenges in the sector.

Managing water bodies

 Ahmad Al Moosawi explains how maintaining water bodies is one of the most critical areas. “When you are dealing with water bodies, it’s not only the water quality that is involved but also the existence of aquatic fauna living within these bodies, hence utmost care is taken while choosing the technologies and additives to maintain the water bodies,” he adds. Currently, they use algae control ultrasonic equipment, floating fountains, aerators, and other organic enzymes. All these methods are aquatic-life friendly, and they don't use any toxic chemicals like sodium hypochlorite, copper sulphate, and other algaecides.

Technology support

Ejadah has introduced so many innovations and technologies in maintenance of the public infrastructure. For example, in the pumping stations and sewage treatment plants, they take all the assets to a remote monitoring platform where all the critical assets are monitored and controlled remotely. “We are also in the process of employing artificial intelligence to check the health of the assets and perform life cycle analysis, as well as the flow of networks and blockages. In addition to the use of high-pressure jetting machines to clean and maintain the underground networks,” he explains. They also utilise ultrasonic equipment to control algae formation in the water bodies. Moreover, underwater nano bubbler equipment is also being used. This comes with an oxygen compressor and can pour into billions of nano oxygen bubbles with 95% oxygen concentration into a waterbody. This enhances the dissolved oxygen levels in water bodies and is considered as one of the main parameters for a healthier and clean water body.

Ejadah’s role

Ejadah delivers infrastructure FM services through its vertical Idama. In the last couple of years, the public infrastructure business had remained at the forefront for Ejadah business with a prime focus on master community developments, district management, industrial parks, amusement parks, beaches, island developments, and telecom infrastructure. Ejadah along with its in-house team and specialised partners deliver the following services: • Common area cleaning • External MEP • Streetlights and associated infrastructure • Sewage network and lifting station maintenance • Irrigation network and pumping station maintenance • Firefighting network and hydrant maintenance • Stormwater network and pumping station maintenance • Roads and pavement maintenance • Public parks maintenance • Traffic signal and signage maintenance • Lagoons and pond maintenance.

Unique approach

 Ejadah is known to provide its clients with the best services possible by adhering to industry best practices and maintaining flexibility to adapt according to projectspecific requirements. “Idama`s collaborative approach and effective communications ensure that good relationships are maintained with all parties and that all potential synergies between the individual services are maximized,” explains Ahmad Al Moosawi. They believe the following to be critical success factors in the performance of the operations and maintenance services for public infrastructure, and thus will always remain its key objectives for delivering a premium FM Service:

• End-user experience: IDAMA provides customer-centric service, and maintain a fivestar appearance throughout the property.
• Cost efficiency: Provide the FM services in a manner that optimizes cost efficiencies by integrating parts of the contract, both at the outset and throughout.
• Single point responsibility: Achieve fully managed FM services provision by establishing a single point of responsibility for managing and delivering all the specified FM services. And provide a single point of contact between IDAMA and clients.
• Establish synergy: Deliver a sophisticated arrangement that will ensure concerted efforts and effective synergy with client and specialist subcontractors/ operators. Engendering a true spirit of partnership with a new client through proactive problem solving and seeking solutions to a range of conflicts by effective management of compliance and performance levels of third-party service delivery providers.
• Innovation: Provide FM services based on continuous improvement and innovation.
• Coordination: Benefit from the coordination and integration of Idama`s supply chain, including all consultants, sub-service providers, and suppliers.
• Professional service: Provide a professional service that is fully compliant with all statutory regulations and good industry practice requirements for health, safety, and environmental management, labour standards, and other applicable policies as determined by a new client focusing on quality, health, safety, and environmentally sustainable solutions.
• Seamless transition: IDAMA ensures a seamless transition and mobilization from the existing service providers.

Finally, Ahmad Al Moosawi concludes by pointing out how to post the pandemic, FM businesses are facing many challenges in running successful contracts. “Hence, the FM sector in the GCC region must start focusing on innovation, cost-effective solutions, and work processes that are customer-centric and tailored work processes,” he sums up.