Speaking at Najran Investment Forum, which concluded on Tuesday, he said the new investment opportunities are in the areas of housing and building commercial and recreational centers.

Highlighting prospects of investments at the university campus, Al-Fayie said the number of its students would reach 45,000 and teaching staff 2,000 within the next few years.

One of the sessions at the forum discussed investment opportunities in Najran’s mining sector as experts said the region is rich with a variety of minerals. There are a number of industrial minerals such as granite, limestone, gypsum and argil.

Mansour Al-Qahtani, head of the southern sector of Saudi Electricity Company, presented a paper highlighting future investment opportunities in the electricity sector, especially in Najran and Sharourah.

Ahmed Al-Quwaiz of Saudi Industrial Development Fund spoke about his organization’s efforts to boost industrial development in various parts of the Kingdom, by extending soft loans.

The fund has sanctioned 13 new loans worth SR871 million to establish 10 new industrial projects and expand three existing industries.

Petrochemical industries received the lion’s share of the newly approved loans as the sector obtained five loans worth SR501 million. Total investments in projects benefiting from the five loans have reached 1.07 billion, the Saudi Press Agency said.