Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Nasser, director of international trade at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and supervisor of the SR75 billion Jazan Industrial City project, has welcomed prominent Indian companies to invest in the city.

“The new industrial city, which is being developed by Gammon Group, offers a lot of business opportunities for Indian companies,” the prince said after holding talks with Indian Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao in Riyadh.

“We hope major Indian companies would make use of the opportunity and we are ready to provide them with all necessary support,” said Prince Turki, who is Jazan Gov. Prince Mohammed bin Nasser’s son.

He said the Jazan Industrial City, which is expected to draw investment projects worth SR75 billion and create about 100,000 jobs, would change the face of Jazan and accelerate its economic growth.

Prince Turki described Saudi Arabia as the safest place for investment in the world. “The main attraction of the new industrial city project is that if major companies are ready to invest and transfer their technology, the government will pay them 75 percent of their project cost in soft loans for 20 years,” he pointed out.

Prince Turki has been authorized by the government to develop the city with Gammon Group by bringing foreign investors to build the city’s entire infrastructure facilities such as roads, bridges, commercial centers, power plants, water treatment plants and establish vital industries, including an oil refinery and petrochemical plants.

Prince Turki highlighted the strong business relations between Saudi Arabia and India while praising the hardworking Indian expatriates in the Kingdom. He appreciated Indians’ contributions toward Saudi Arabia’s development in various sectors.

He praised the Indian Embassy and Consulate for their exemplary efforts to correct the legal status of Indian citizens in the Kingdom quickly and efficiently during the amnesty declared by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. “This reflects Indians’ keenness to follow the Kingdom’s regulations.”

Shaikh Mohammed Rafik, chairman of Gammon Group, said a number of Indian companies have already signed agreements with his group to carry out investment projects in the city. “We have started works to implement the project,” he told Arab News.

He said Gammon was making strenuous efforts to bring major international companies and investors to Jazan and set up a variety of industries required by the Kingdom, including a tire factory, an automobile plant, a food processing factory, a pharmaceutical factory, a steel plant and a cement factory.

“There are big scopes for these industries in the Kingdom,” said Taher, promoter of the industrial city. International companies, including Shenhua Group, Kalliyath Steel, Trina Solar and China Communications Construction Company, have agreed to join hands with Gammon Group to make the city an outstanding one.