Originally Posted by
San Gottardo
I thought more people here knew how Qatar works.
You can be a great CEO/project leader/responsible for the initiative, have finished everything on time and ready to open - but then someone with influence comes round and says he doesn't like this or that aspect, and you end up with not meeting your deadline.
What may (or may not) have happened for DIA: the airport was ready to open for LCCs. But some Qatari authority/ministry woke up the day before the opening and decided that lessons had to be learned from the Villaggio fire several months earlier and that much more demanding fire protection requirements had to be met. And the opening had to be postponed.
I am not saying this is what happened, but what is possible to happen in Qatar. Not meeting an objective can indeed be a matter of negligence or incompetence. But it could also be that someone re-defines the objective just before you reach it.
So all those that concluded that it is all necessarily AL Baker's responsibility: don't apply your (probably Western) logic to how this part of the world works.
Sorry not buying it. All the malls to include the villaggio had reopened within about 6 months of the fire with all the new fire requirements from the ministry. QR is also controlled by one of the most powerful families within qatar so no one else besides Akbar is going to have a say in any design changes.
I agree we shouldn't apply western logic as we usually beleive people in charge of companies are competent and capable of making sound decission. This is simply not the case in Qatar due to Qatarization.
If you talk to the contractors on the new airport, they will tell you that all the delays are due to like of foresight from QR and QR's last minute changes. They keep losing quality contractors becuase they are feed up with the project and quit.
Becuase Akbar seems to all spout out lies, I tend to beleive it is his fault especially when he tries to blame it on the contractors.