JEDDAH, 5 July 2005 — The new industrial city in Yanbu (Yanbu-2), to be completed by 2019, will include industrial projects worth SR115 billion, according to Prince Saud ibn Abdullah ibn Thunayan, chairman of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu.
He said Crown Prince Abdullah would lay the cornerstone for the mega industrial project today. Covering an area of 66 square kilometers, it is expected to contain 34 basic and secondary industries and 224 light industries which will bring the total investments in Yanbu to more than SR200 billion.
“We in Yanbu are looking forward to the crown prince’s visit and are very happy for this meeting which reflects the tremendous support that the Royal Commission (RC) receives from our leaders,” he said. Prince Abdullah will also chair the commission’s board meeting.
Prince Saud said the crown prince would also launch a number of industrial, educational, power and water projects in Yanbu, which are estimated to cost more than SR50 billion. “SABIC will implement the largest of these projects costing SR28 billion,” he added.
The RC projects consist of a seawater pump and distribution project for cooling, establishing steam station number 4, establishing electric power branch stations, producing and distributing water desalination project and different education projects.
The private projects include leveling the location, developing the infrastructure, establishing the main power plant and branches, establishing the infrastructure for Al-Fahd district - the city’s center - and the main coastlines as well as the infrastructure for other districts in addition to a number of education projects that include expanding Yanbu Industrial College, establishing a technical institute and a university for girls and one for boys.
The new SABIC projects include Yanbit-II, owned by SABIC and ExxonMobile with a total investment of SR9 billion and production capacity of 4 million tons annually of ethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene and ethylene glycol. Another project is the Industrial Gases National Company factory (second phase), owned 70 percent by SABIC and 30 percent by a group of national companies for a capital investment of SR236 million and produces 900 tons daily of oxygen and nitrogen, which began operating this year.
The crown prince will lay the cornerstone for Yansab, Yanbu National Petrochemical Company which is owned 55 percent by SABIC and 10 percent by 17 Saudi and Gulf companies; 35 percent of the capital will be floated in an IPO. The investment in this project is SR19 billion and will have a production capacity of over 4 million tons annually of ethylene, propylene, polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene glycol, benzene, toluene, butane, and zaylene. It will be completed by the end of 2007 and will employ 1500.
In addition to laying the cornerstones for RC’s and SABIC’s projects, the crown prince will also open a number of private sector factories by the private sector operating at Yanbu Industrial City at a total cost of SR14 billion. The private sector investments also include bot residential and commercial projects.
