Barwa Real Estate has denied reports which appeared in a section of the media yesterday about the company “cancelling sponsorships” of a number of its Qatari employees for studying abroad. A local Arabic daily reported that the company had suspended scholarships granted to 60 Qatari in-service employees on the orders of Barwa Group CEO and managing director Dr Mohamed Asad al-Emadi. In a statement issued after an emergency co-ordination meeting between Barwa Real Estate chairman Hitmi bin Ali al-Hitmi and Dr al-Emadi yesterday, it was stressed that Qatari employees were the company’s top priority and one of its most important assets. Barwa is always keen to enable and qualify Qatari nationals to fill various vacancies in different managerial levels, it was pointed out. Barwa has aligned its strategy to contribute to the realisation of Qatar National Vision 2030 through human development. The company supports Qatari nationals through offering them education, training and scholarship opportunities through various schemes that the company developed and will continue over the coming years, the statement said. The report in the local Arabic daily yesterday also claimed that the company had terminated several Qataris and expatriates from service during the past few days and many were still being terminated. According to the publication, al-Hitmi had rescinded the termination orders but Dr al-Emadi ignored them. Consequently those who returned to work could not resume their duties as their e-mail IDs and other facilities were not restored to them, the daily said. The Barwa Real Estate statement said al-Hitmi and Dr al-Emadi had discussed “news leaks” on some resolutions made by Barwa senior management. “The meeting agreed to all the items of the agenda. It also discussed other issues related to the parent company and subsidiaries. “It was agreed to accelerate developing the company’s business plan and its subsidiaries for the current phase, then it shall be submitted for the Board of Directors for discussion and approval. “Further, it was resolved that the Board of Directors shall convene over the next few days to discuss Barwa strategy on the short, medium and long term,” the statement added. The Arabic daily also mentioned in its report that Dr al-Emadi had dissolved 27 subsidiary firms of Barwa and brought them under his direct supervision. Quoting news agencies, Gulf Times had reported on Friday that Barwa Real Estate Company had laid off nearly 90 employees amid a restructuring move being pushed through by its new chief executive. “The finance teams and legal teams have been decimated. An awful lot of these are expats,” a high-level source who is close to the company said, adding that the cuts were a direct result of Dr al-Emadi’s appointment as the new Group CEO last month.

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