Arab News, Monday, Sep 21, 2020 | Safar 04, 1442
Saudi Arabia’s Alkhobar becomes international role model for business continuity
Saudi Arabia:
Al khobar municipality, along with Europe’s
largest industrial manufacturing company Siemens, has been hailed as a role
model for management excellence and business continuity.
The municipality has been awarded international certification for its excellence
in managing crises and risks under difficult circumstances, in recognition of
its administrative achievements during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Quality Austria (QA) awarded Alkhobar Municipality and Siemens with ISO 22301
and ISO 9001 certificates, which are concerned with business continuity
management, especially during the pandemic.
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is an independent and
nongovernmental body. Its standards are internationally agreed by experts and
are seen as the best way of doing something.
Alkhobar has pushed for a paperless municipality and emphasized the introduction
of online services for residents.
Its mayor, Sultan bin Hamid Al-Zaidi, said that the municipality’s ISO
achievement was in line with achieving the goals of the Eastern Province
municipality. He added that the aim was to make Alkhobar a distinguished city,
like other places in the province.
The Mayor of the Eastern Province, Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Jubeir, said that
municipalities were keen to implement the most advanced administrative systems
and provide the best services to beneficiaries.
“This comes in line with the objectives of municipal transformation, part of the
National Transformation Program 2020 of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 reform plan
which states that the Kingdom, with its outputs and services, should provide an
international role model of quality and mastery, and raise the level of services
provided by services and economic development agencies and enterprises,” Al-Jubeir
told Arab News.
He added that the municipality had launched initiatives and programs seeking to
make the Eastern Province and its governorates pioneers in administrative and
service qualities, as well as improving public services.
According to QA’s regional manager, Dr. Mohamed Hassan, business continuity was
primarily done through strategic planning and taking into account the different
local factors and needs of provinces and municipalities.
“These instructions are then transformed into applicable programs and strategies
at the amana (provincial government) level,” he wrote in an article. “Since the
Eastern Province is, in this respect, the leading province in the Kingdom, the
guidelines are finalized in consultation with the EP’s mayor, Fahad Al-Jubeir.”
The article gave examples of Alkhobar’s strategic emergency plans and said it
had made arrangements with companies such as Al-Yamama for the prevention of
damage from flash floods or storms.
It added that other public contractors, such as Nabatat, ensured that green
spaces and parks in the city remained relaxing destinations for people, even on
exceptionally hot summer days.
“A successful example of service digitization is the Balady software, which
makes all municipality services available to citizens online.
Moreover, the Balagat software offers a service in which complaints and
suggestions from citizens can be reported and followed up online,” the article
said. “If a complaint is not solved within 24 hours, it is automatically
forwarded to the mayor of the Eastern Province, Al-Jubeir.”
The ministry’s foresight in initiating plans and preparations, the online
software systems used and the high-quality standards in the municipality all
helped in increasing the effectiveness of the business continuity management
system.