Self-reliance drive makes great strides

The Ministerial Group for the Encouragement and Participation of the Private Sector in the Economic Development Projects of Qatar, chaired by HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, has announced the launch of a number of new projects in various fields.
These ventures have been set in motion as part of the government's efforts to give a greater role to the private sector in the country's economic development and in pursuance of the directives of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to seek self-reliance and increase self-sufficiency.
In the context of encouraging industrial investments and meeting the local market's needs, the Ministerial Group, at its latest meeting, approved the results of the first phase of the initiative "own your factory within 72 hours" through the single window facility. The scheme aims to provide exceptional incentives to industrial investors in Qatar through more than 10 concessions, including the issuance of all approvals and licences and the allocation of land within 72 hours from the date of approving the application. Besides, such projects are given exemption of customs on raw materials.
Several government agencies, including Qatar Chamber, Economic Zones Corporation and Qatar Development Bank are participating in the initiative and working together to achieve its objectives.
The initiative has attracted a lot of interest from investors since its launch. The committee has received many applications from both inside and outside Qatar. The scheme included eight major industrial sectors that took into account the needs of the local market.
In the first stage, 63 factories which will serve the needs of the local market have been approved. Food industries topped the list with 22 plants, while the rest were distributed among metallurgy, machinery, rubber, medical, paper, electrical and chemical industries.
To support food security, the Ministerial Group has agreed to a shrimp farm with a capacity of more than 1,000 tonnes per year. This project will cover about 90% of the needs of the Qatari market. This initiative comes as part of the government's efforts to reach self-sufficiency in food, agricultural, animal and industrial products.
The Ministerial Group announced last month that a national company had won a bid to manage the first fish farm that would produce 2,000 tonnes of local fish annually.
Also, the Ministerial Group agreed to issue a tender to national companies to set up plants that can each recycle 2mn tonnes of construction waste at the Rawdat Rashid facility, within five years.
The initiative aims to produce recycled rubble and other raw materials, to reduce the demand for imported rubble in construction, and to encourage the private sector to invest in this area. The initiative is part of the government's ongoing efforts to reduce waste that affects the environment and to implement the Qatar National Vision 2030.
Other projects in the fields of food security, health, education, industry, tourism and logistics development are under consideration. A specialised team will study the best ways and procedures to launch these projects in a fair and transparent manner for all investors.