JEDDAH: New projects, such as a second industrial city, an Islamic world museum and a heritage village are being planned for Makkah.
While addressing the fourth Industrial Forum held at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal said yesterday he would meet on Saturday top officials of the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry to discuss the setting up of the new projects besides the launch of “Made in Makkah and the Productive Family” project.
Prince Khaled said he instructed the Jeddah mayoralty to hand over land required by the Industrial Cities Commission (ICC) to start new projects.
The governor also stressed that no company would play an intermediary role between the mayoralty and the ICC.
More than 100 industrialists and officials participated in the forum.
“Prince Khaled has taken the initiative to set up a committee for the industrial growth of the province as part of the Kingdom’s efforts to take a position in the ranks of leading industrialist countries in the world,” Deputy Chairman of JCCI Mazin Batterji said. He added that the forum was aimed at activating the industrial strategy for the province until 2020 as stipulated in the country’s five-year plan.
As part of the national policy to spur industrial development, the Kingdom has so far launched 14 industrial cities in various provinces with a total investment of more than SR70 billion.
“The Jeddah region alone has SR55 billion worth of 1,210 industrial units that employ 120,000 people,” Batterji said.
He urged the Ministry of Finance to support the ICC, which has the required land but does not have the means to develop them.
The chairman of the forum, Hussein Abu Dawood, reiterated the local industrialists’ demand that the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs hand over land allocated to the ICC without any interference from the Jeddah Real Estate Development Company.
He also demanded that the municipality allocate government land to the south of the Jeddah Industrial City II to build an exclusive water desalination plant for the industrial city.
Mufrih Al-Haqabani, undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor, said his ministry was striving to bring up the percentage of Saudization to 30 percent in the industrial sector. “The level of unemployment rate in the Kingdom fell to 10 percent last year while there are 829,057 Saudis working in the private sector where the total work force is put at 6,221,947,” he said.
Ulfat Qabbani, chairperson of the Jeddah Council of Social Responsibility, urged the concerned authorities to raise the level of women’s participation in the industrial sector both as investors and workers as only two percent of women currently work in the sector.
