People who were loyal to Gaddafi have left and the new people who have replaced them are not prepared to make such big decisions, not because they are incapable but because I believe it is a kind of skill that comes from experience. People can be born artists or athletes, but I don’t believe they can be born managers.
The big challenge that Libya faces now is how to spend this big budget. I think we need to start spending our money correctly. I shall give you an example; the previous government had a budget of US $68 billion, by the end of their period they passed on to us around US $18 billion. This money was not spent and did not go back into the Libyan Central Bank.
We did not give the money to the government in order for them to return it to us; the budget is there to be spent in the country on infrastructure, housing etc. You may think it’s good that they bring the money back, but that’s not right, you should have good management to spend the money correctly.
Regarding the outside view that Libya is insecure, when you do business on a day to day basis can you tell me how it feels on the ground?
In my experience working in the private sector in construction, hotel management, hospitality, road construction, oil fields etc., we have never had any problems with security issues, maybe because we are Libyans. I think the issue of insecurity is overstated here in Libya.
I don’t see why anyone should have any security problems doing business in Libya. If the company is foreign then I am not sure, but as a Libyan company I don’t see any problems. Of course you have to be careful and think twice before going to certain areas but at the end of the day I think the media gives the issue more attention than is necessary.
Can you give us a brief about the development, strategy and vision for your company?
We have a construction company (DAA Construction & Engineering) that has grown quite well in the last 4 years, we construct hospitals, hotels, public registration buildings etc. We also have a new section in our company that constructs roads and infrastructure. Our company is registered with the Libyan airport authorities as they are our clients.