JUBAIL, 26 December 2004 — Crown Prince Abdullah yesterday inaugurated and laid the foundation of several mega projects worth SR224 billion in Jubail Industrial City.
He also attended a meeting of the board of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu which was attended by the Commission Chairman Prince Saud Al-Thunyan and several Cabinet ministers.
During the board meeting Prince Abdullah expressed his satisfaction over the pace of development in the industrial sector. He called upon the Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals as well as Saudi Aramco to provide gas to the industrial sector in general and industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu in particular at the right time.
The crown prince said that gas was vital for the industrial growth of the country and the relevant authorities should make sure that its supply was uninterrupted and without any complications.
Prince Al-Thunyan gave a brief background of the Jubail Industrial City II and how the projects there will provide thousands of jobs to Saudis. The need of the hour was to have a coordinated operation, he said.
Prince Abdullah laid the foundation stones as well as inaugurated 26 projects. One of the most important mega projects of which the crown prince laid the foundation was the Jubail Industrial City II. Once the city is commissioned, Jubail will become the industrial capital of Saudi Arabia.
“The new industrial city will attract local and foreign investments worth SR130 billion and create some 55,000 new job opportunities,” the Royal Commission chairman said in his welcome address. He said the extension is expected to provide expansion facility for the industrialization of Jubail for the next 25 to 30 years.
The new industrial city to be established by the Royal Commission is situated about three kilometers to the north of the existing one.
It will consist of 19 primary industries, in addition to several secondary and support industries which will mainly be owned by local and foreign investors. The development of the new industrial town has been divided into four phases with the first phase expected to be operational by 2008. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2022. The Royal Commission will provide all infrastructure including roads, utilities and port expansion. The utilities for the new industrial park will be extended from the existing park across Saudi Aramco’s 1.5-km wide Kuwait Ras Tanura (KRT) corridor. The construction activities for site development and for extending the utilities across the KRT corridor will start shortly. Bechtel is managing and supervising the projects on behalf of the Royal Commission.
One of the prime projects at the Jubail Industrial City-II will be the dual-purpose Independent Water and Power Plant (IWPP) of Marafiq (The Power and Water Utility Company for Jubail and Yanbu). The first phase of the project, estimated to cost SR8 billion involving international investors, will comprise a 2,400-megawatt power plant and a desalination plant with a capacity of 300,000 cubic feet water per day. Marafiq sources expect both the plants to go on stream by the fourth quarter of 2007. In the second phase, the project will produce about 2,000 megawatts of power and about the same quantity of water. A $2.5 billion bid for a new water and power project has been floated by Marafiq to local and international investors. Industry sources say once the project kicks off it will mark the beginning of privatization of the water and power sector in Saudi Arabia.
According to the sources, one factor that makes the Marafiq project more lucrative to the investors is its commercial viability and credible owners. It is owned by four major stockholders: The Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu and the Public Investment Fund, and some private investors.
Prince Abdullah also inaugurated several SABIC projects which included expansion of petrochemical and fertilizer, gas, and iron and steel plants. Today, Prince Abdullah will formally inaugurate Qatif Producing Plants marking the completion of 800,000 barrels per day development program. The plant will also provide 370 million cubic feet of associated gas. The onshore component of the project has the capacity to provide 500,000 bpd of Arabian light crude. “The offshore Abu-Safah field produces 300,000 bpd of Arabian Medium,” an Aramco statement said.
Tomorrow, Prince Abdullah will open the expansion projects of the University City at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran. On Tuesday, he will inaugurate the King Fahd Specialist Hospital as well as several other health projects in the region. On Wednesday he will open the Saline Water Conversation Corporation project in Alkhobar.
