The Emir of Makkah announced that infrastructure projects will be managed by Aramco, and the company may establish a specialized department for this issue, as stated in the news report in Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper. This is a clear and strong indication of the government apparatus’ inability to perform its role. About three or four years ago, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques entrusted Aramco with establishing and managing King Abdullah University. There is no doubt that Aramco is one of the local companies that has proven its efficiency. According to my simple experience with the company, the company has been able to gain the loyalty of its employees in a way that I have not seen in the public and private sectors. The company has also been able to gain the respect of the public and private sectors.
Transferring state projects to be managed by Aramco, despite the expected advantages that this will achieve compared to the government apparatus, carries other costs, negative effects and consequences that we need to look at deeply. First, Aramco is a company specialized in oil and project management and is based on corporate theories of maximizing profits. It is expected that it will not be able to work in the context of maximizing economic welfare, which is supposed to be the role that the government apparatus was trained to play!!… Aramco’s management of government projects may be based on maximizing profits and largely ignores social and economic welfare, which affects the future relationship of these projects, whether educational or infrastructure, to the economic welfare of society. Also, preoccupying Aramco with government problems will, over time, distance it from performing its important role in the local and global economy. If Aramco is handed over the projects that the state should manage in every region and city, then we will be facing a real tragedy in the general situation and the future performance of the company and the government apparatus. In addition to the above, paying salaries to the government apparatus while it does not perform its role is a waste of public money that belongs to society as a whole. Government agencies were established according to the specializations that the country needs and were pumped with employees and huge budgets to perform their role in achieving real development. If the country’s officials ignore these agencies and their reform by resorting to “Aramco” and holding it responsible for the failure of the government agency to perform its role, this constitutes a waste of public money. Therefore, either the government agency should be dissolved and “Aramco” should be given the responsibility of managing government projects, or the reasons for the poor situation experienced by the government agencies should be studied in order to address this.
However, the questions that should be discussed as soon as possible and answers sought are: What are the reasons that led to the failure of the government agency to perform its role? Why did “Aramco” succeed? If there is an admission of the failure of the government sector and the success of “Aramco”, what should be done as soon as possible?
Therefore, it is the duty of government officials to study the reasons that led to the failure of the government agencies to perform their role and address this. The employees of “Aramco” and government agencies are mostly from this country, so what is the difference? It may be appropriate for the study to be conducted by independent bodies, whether local universities or consulting companies or both, for comparison and benefit. An in-depth study of the subject will help stop or reduce financial waste!!It contributes to addressing the defect to achieve the desired development, raise the level of welfare for citizens, and reduce the risks facing investors, instead of these errors being reflected in the cost equation for companies to improve service provision to citizens.