Sultan of his Destiny

But as the oil boom struck the Arabian Peninsula, the rest of the Gulf Cooperation States states accelerated the pace of their development and began building the great cities that we see today.

However, Muscat decided to chose another path, one that embraced projects on a ‘needs’ basis and took a slow and steady approach towards growth.

Thus, it is only now that Muscat and Oman are starting to make a mark on the regional MEP scene, with projects such as the Muscat International Airport and the Royal Opera House helping to put the city on the international map.

No company has played a bigger role in this surge than the Bahwan Engineering Group, the flagship of the Suhail Bahwan Group, one of Oman’s biggest business houses, and amongst the region’s largest engineering construction groups.

Founded in 1977, the Bahwan Engineering Group has been led from the start by the redoubtable Suresh K Virmani, the managing director of the group and a venerable figure in the Omani engineering fraternity.

A protégé of India’s famed Voltas Group, Virmani helped found Bahwan Engineering and turn it into the formidable force it is today through three decades of sustained excellence and a near obsession with achieving perfection on every project his company works on.

“My background is that I’m an engineer, and I spent twelve years with Voltas Limited, the Tata company, from 1965 to 1977, in the central air conditioning and refrigeration division.

Then in 1977, I came to Oman, and the main reason why I came here was because I realised that if I did a job, I would have to retire. I questioned myself about why anyone should tell me when I should retire? If I’m healthy, who is someone else to tell me that I should retire?” he says, offering a hint of the burning ambition behind his gentle mannered exterior.

“I was two years into my Voltas career and just 23 years old (when I realised this). So the obvious thing was, if I didn’t want to retire, then I should think of doing my own business. That was when the seed was sown.”

To cut a long story short, he says, his dream took a backseat when he realised that will and enthusiasm would not provide the necessary capital to fulfil his vision.

But as a firm believer in the power of destiny, Virmani says that he was content to bide his time, earn his stripes and wait for the right moment to come, all the while continuing to serve at Voltas with distinction, moving up the ladder and into the international operations division.

Twelve years later, that moment arrived in the form of a phone call from an agent who enquired whether he’d be interested in meeting a Mr Suhail Bahwan, who was in Bombay on business.

“I believe that destiny plays a role in every life. As a young man, I didn’t quite believe that, but when this opportunity came, it was as if my dreams were giving me direction. I was on the fast track at Voltas, I was told that I was singled out for the export department which was just starting out at the time,” says Virmani, as he recollects.

“But then my dream came in between and said, “Here is Mr Suhail Bahwan. You don’t have the money to put your dream into action and you think you’re very smart and that you’re an entrepreneur.

Okay, then go out and prove it. Here’s a person that God sent, who has come and said that he wants to start a company and you say you want to start your company, but you don’t have the money. So prove it now,” he reminisces, showing the instinct and willingness to gamble that would soon serve him in good stead over the next few years.

Following a whirlwind interview process, Virmani found himself setting up base in Oman, along with a team of thirteen handpicked individuals, including a draughtsman and a stenographer.

However, getting started proved to be the biggest challenge in his career, he says, as he recounts just how difficult it was to get work in a country capital that was in a period of transition itself.

“Everything was a challenge. I was coming from a highly professional organisation into an ownership organisation. With just 14 people, sometimes I was my own driver, taking workers in the backseat of your car and dropping them off at a site, because you couldn’t afford many things. You have to first start earning before you can say, ‘one bus, one driver,’ and all that.”

“But the biggest challenge was that Oman, from 1970 to 1975 or so, was just growing from a village to a good sized town. From 1977 onwards, it was a breathing period for the country, which allowed it to take account and implement the next five year plan. From 1975 to 1978, there was hardly any business, and this is when I landed up!” he laughs.

“The first questions I was asked were ‘What is Bahwan Engineering? What references do you have? What have you done in Oman?” That was a great challenge, and how do you convince people?” he says.

Displaying the determination and persistence needed to survive in such a bleak market, Virmani says he approached Petroleum Development Oman over and over again, despite being turned away constantly. They continued doing this for six months before finally getting the break they needed, earning the right to tender for an air conditioning contract for 10 residential villas.

“We quoted 25% lower than the second lowest bid so we were very happy and we were called in. The gentleman there said, “I knew you don’t know how to do your job, how can you be 25% if you knew how to do your job!” He was so angry and perhaps was thinking, “How do we get rid of them now?” he recounts with a smile.

“I still remember, his boss came in and said, “Ah! So you are the gentlemen who want to sink Bahwan!” We didn’t know what to say, and he told us, “Do you know what the penalty is?” We said, “So many riyals per day…” and he cut us off, “No, for you, if you get the job and we decide to give you the job, the families who are supposed to live in these houses, if their air conditioning is not functioning properly because of the design, then the families will live in the InterContinental Hotel, all at your expense!”

“So I looked at my assistant, he looked at me, and I said, “Okay,” Virmani says, grinning at the memory.

“Of course, we did the job well, and that was the day (things turned for us), and till today, PDO remain one of our best customers. Once the wheels start moving, and you work sincerely and you work hard, then in a country like Oman, where it is really meticulous, where it looks for quality and means it, not just on paper, then once you deliver, your name will automatically start coming, slowly but surely.”

Following this eventful start, Bahwan Engineering continued to go from strength to strength, picking up a number of big projects, initially focusing only on central air conditioning projects before Virmani decided to grow the company horizontally, adding an electrical division first, before moving into plumbing, and eventually forming into nine separate divisions, including district cooling, electro-mechanical services, civil construction, oil and gas and power projects and facilities management and maintenance.

“In MEP, we now have something like 60% to 70% of the market share, it’s still going very well and the latest project, the culmination of all our work, is the largest MEP project in Oman, the $600m plus airport project.”

“I don’t think there’ll be an MEP project bigger than this in Oman for years to come, even if I stretch my imagination, I cannot think of it,” Virmani says.

“That is just MEP, we also have the Salah Airport air-conditioning contract,” he adds.
When asked for his opinon on the absence of major projects in Oman and how it may hamper the development of Oman’s MEP industry, Virmani is adamant that the approach the Sultanate is taking is the right one.

“My analysis is that Oman has need-based projects. There is no extravaganza going on here, they are not into ‘the biggest malls’ and all that.

The country has established that after oil, tourism is the potential of the country. Tourism means hotels and tourist oriented projects. So long as the oil price remains reasonable, then Oman will have needs based projects for the next ten years to come,” he explains.

At the same time, he concedes that these projects will be confined to the local market, playing Bahwan in prime position to take advantage of them, with interlopers likely to regret decisions to move in to such a ‘local market’.

“It’s not as if it’s a $1bn market for MEP and air conditioning,” he cautions, adding that any companies looking to enter into the Omani market will face challenges which remain significant because of the size of the market they are operating in.

As a result, Virmani says that he is casting his eye further afield, and plans to take Bahwan Engineering into the GCC, with Qatar being of particular interest.

However, he is under no illusions as to how hard it could be to break into what is becoming an increasingly competitive market.

“Like I say that it won’t be easy for others to come into Oman because it’s so small, similarly for us, to go into neighbouring countries and face the competition there and win them over, it’ll be hard,” he explains.

“But it is large enough and the pie bigger there. Everyone knows that with Qatar, there’s the FIFA World Cup and so on, and they do have the resources, but my personal reading is that all companies that are serious (about what they’re doing) like us, will have enough jobs.

“Those who can deliver will have their riches. I do not expect this to be a cake walk, but the pie will be large enough,” he insists with strong optimism.

In addition, Virmani explains that companies need to move away from their obsession with the FIFA World Cup and focus on what lies ahead for Qatar.

“We can’t just go, ‘FIFA, FIFA, FIFA’ and have everybody just do that only. We have to look ahead of that,” he exhorts.

Furthermore, Virmani adds that Bahwan is keeping an eye on the situation in Libya, with the intent of moving into the market there once things balance out.

The company has also been active in the UAE since 1995, though mainly in the high-voltage electrical sub-station sector, where it has done M&E works on a power plant in Fujairah. It has also carried out the M&E works for a large residential complex with seven multi-storey buildings and a hotel on Palm Island, among other major projects.

Looking further afield, India is another market that Virmani says he is eyeing because of its vast potential and size, a move he says is fuelled by a desire to complete a really large and meaningful project in the country of his birth.

Having been selected as one of three shortlisted companies for the New Delhi International Airport refurbishment and expansion, he says one of his regrets is turning down the chance to work on the project as it was not worth doing the job at the quoted price.

“We were given the first chance to match the price, but when we had internal discussions with our team, we said, ‘at this price, we should not do this job.’ In hindsight, it was a mistake. Our competitors were called, they agreed to the target and they finished it.”

“So now, if we go into India, which remains in our plans to do so, then we’ll go with a large project and then establish. We’re not going to do general growth over there. If an acquisition opportunity comes up, then we’ll acquire it, because India is not just Delhi.

If there’s a branched network, even if it’s small, then we’ll look at it as part of a strategy. India is north, south, east and west and there are so many portions. If there is something available, then it makes a lot of sense and good strategy to go in there.”

“It’s more than ‘FIFA’, the size of the country, its future, the need based projects there. For maybe 30 years, there are going to be need based projects. So it’s a good strategy and it’s on the map, but as I said, not as generic growth, it’s about going in big or acquisitions,” he outlines.

Returning closer to home, he says that there remain a few projects in Oman that excite him, with the convention centre in Muscat a project he is determined to win.

“It’s going to be one of the largest in the region. It’ll be a 5,000 people convention centre with a five star hotel and later on, two more hotels in the complex as well. Then there’s a hotel coming up on The Wave, the Fairmont hotel, these are basically two of the MEP projects I’m focusing on,” he says.

One thing that will require immediate attention from the regional MEP industry is green buildings, Virmani says, as he predicts that energy companies and banks will start looking at alternative energy more closely.

As a result, he thinks the industry will have to start preparing for green building by thinking outside the box and coming up with more innovative ideas and solutions to problems facing the industry in his sector.

“Alternative energy will grow and I will say that the focus should be on green building. Not everyone will easily adapt to this change. I think people are aware, but also not aware of this, so I will say that the new challenge for MEP will be more towards the field of eco-friendly and green.”

“I think it will take a combined effort from the governments (of the GCC) and society pressure. Bigger forces will have to move and it won’t be driven by the industry. Our challenge will be to implement, not to push. It’ll be a global challenge, not a regional one,” he says.

“That’s what we’ve been able to maintain for 35 years. My advice is to stay ahead of your competitors not just by one step, but ahead by many steps. Think different and don’t get caught up in the routine and you’ll remain ahead. Otherwise, others will catch up fast,” he concludes.