RIYADH, 8 May — Saudi Arabia has allowed for the first time a privately owned chemical plant to manufacture explosives for military purposes in the Kingdom, a company source said.
Saudi Arabia had earlier relied heavily on Western companies for military explosives. The Saudi Chemical Company decided to enter the defense sector after its continuous success in the manufacturing and marketing of explosives for civilian needs as well as in the pharmaceutical sector.
The company, which recently floated 2.1 million shares on the Riyadh bourse, has produced explosives for quarrying, mining, road cutting, trenching and blasting since 1972. The company aims to supply locally the needs of the Saudi and Gulf markets for military explosives, according to an informed source.
The Riyadh-based company has been issued the first license of its kind in the private sector to manufacture, sell and buy civilian and military explosives and related products as per the recommendations of a ministerial committee.
The committee comprised the Ministries of Defense and Aviation, Interior, Foreign, Commerce and Industry in addition to the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology.
The company has completed the market surveys and feasibility studies on its new project throughout the region. The permit also allows the company to import all the raw materials and other required machinery. The company is also eligible to undertake civilian and training contracts according to the license.
The company’s explosive products for civilian purposes in the past have always met with the highest international standards and specifications and therefore the products helped replace imported goods, said a company source.
The company has been supplying 75 percent of the domestic requirements of explosives for civilian purposes since 1975 while in 1985 it switched to manufacturing the new generation of explosives with the help of local employees.
The company is upbeat about its market for civilian products in future as the demand for its products will rise, particularly in the light of the projected schemes of the government in various developmental activities, the source said. (Al-Eqtisadiah)
