New safety rules for Saudi govt projects
Contractors and consultants now required to adhere to stringent new rules to ensure payment for projects
Saudi Arabia has introduced a number of tough new measures to ensure security and safety on government implemented projects.
The Council of Ministers has approved a number of financial and procedural arrangements to empower the new regulations, which will prevent the payment of any amount of money for project implementation without an undertaking from the consultant to abide by safety and security rules and regulations.
The Minister of State, Member of Cabinet and Acting Minister of Culture and Information, Essam Bin Saad, said that the Cabinet approved the regulations following the review of a report presented by the minister of finance, a report in the Saudi Gazette said.
As per the new rules, government agencies will now have to verify compliance of security and safety regulations. Public utility projects, such as road and transport projects – or those involving renovations, modifications and additions – will see only payments cleared after an undertaking from the contractor about his commitment to abide by the security and safety rules approved by the Civil Defence.
Furthermore, the Cabinet ruled that the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs will have to review the system of classifying contractors and its executive bylaws by giving them classification grades on the basis of their adherence to the security and safety requirements.
