RIYADH, 5 November 2004 — Buoyed by the results of industrial expansion in Jubail, the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu has allocated around SR10 billion ($2.66 billion) for the development of Jubail-2 geared to the Kingdom’s import substitution and export promotion program.
The industrial zone, named the Western Zone for Industries, will house a total of 20 basic industries. Design works of projects to be implemented in the zone have been completed, an official source in the Royal Commission told Arab News. He said the industrial zone would be expanded gradually in four phases, starting from the passageway of Al-Khorsaniya-Ras Tanoura road. Likewise, design works for infrastructure facilities, including roads, passageways, water pipelines and roads to King Fahd Industrial Port have also been completed.
According to Andrea Pampanini, author of two books on industrial development in the Middle East (Cities from the Arabian Desert, the Building of Jubail and Yanbu in Saudi Arabia and The Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, 25 Years of Accomplishments), the total number of projects in Jubail and Yanbu stood at 2,280, of which 228 were in the industrial sector, 1,347 in the service sector and five in the agricultural sector. The total investments for the projects was SR57.61 billion. The top investing countries were the US, Japan, France, the UK, Canada, Syria, India, Germany, Jordan and Palestine.
The two industrial cities now account for around seven percent of the Kingdom’s GDP, Pampanini told Arab News during a recent interview in Riyadh. He is presently writing a third book, documenting the move toward privatization in the Kingdom.
Pampanini said both the industrial cities have succeeded in attracting the best Saudi managers and technocrats, besides substantial investments in both infrastructure and industrial as well as commercial ventures over the next few years.
Meanwhile, the new industrial township of Jubail-2 will be the site of a $1 billion polyethylene National Chemical Company plant to be set up by the National Industrialization Company (NIC) next year. It is one of the subsidiaries of NIC, which has other ventures in Jubail industrial city.
In another development, Saudi Hollandi Bank has announced the signing of a $47 million financing agreement with Gulf Advanced Chemical Industries Company (GACIC). The SHB-arranged facility will finance a portion of the cost of GACIC’s Butanediol (BDO) project, which is being constructed in the Jubail Industrial City. The plant is expected to be commissioned by the fourth quarter of 2005.