The future belongs to those who believe in themselves and work hard towards building their dreams. It takes determination, planning and lots of hard work to reach your destination. Moreover, you need a catalyst to spur you on towards the path of success.
For Qatar, the push came in through the illegal blockade imposed by some of its neighbours. Like the Economy Minister said recently “we are doing excellent. In fact, from an economic point of view, it (blockade) is a blessing.”
The siege spurred on the people in every sphere of life. Public and private entities devised new projects and put them into action within a short span of time.
New production units were setup and the journey towards self sufficiency was kicked off in many sectors.
Previously Qatar depended on its neighbours for most of its needs – be it dairy products or construction material. This dependency on imported goods didn’t allow local industries to flourish. But all that changed after the illegal blockade was imposed. Now, Doha is self sufficient or almost there in many industries like poultry, packaging and dairy. In near future many more sectors will follow suit.
According to the Minister of Energy and Industry, 98 new plants came into actual production compared to 56 plants in the year before the unjustified blockade, registering a growth of approximately 80 percent on year-on- year basis.
A lot of existing plants also increased their scale of production many fold 400 times in some cases.
With this sharp rise in the number of new plants, the total number of factories in the country has reached 812.
Such vibrant activity also raises the bar and gives birth to more radical and innovative ideas. Two such welcoming ideas are the recent announcements of manufacturing of smartphones and consumer electronics and electric cars.
According to media reports the first Qatari factory to manufacture smartphone and other consumer electronic products is almost ready. The $9bn plant for the production of electric cars in Qatar will come online soon and the first car is expected to launched in 2022 in conjunction with World Cup.
Qatar with its excellent infrastructure, availability of affordable energy and strategic geographic location can become a hub for manufacturing in the region.
And the journey towards that dream has begun well and with the collective effort of all stakeholders the destination is not far away.
