Saudi Arabia will have to wait for 70 years to realize self-sufficiency in Saudi engineers, whose numbers currently does not exceed 30,000, the board chairman of the Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE) has said.
Hamad bin Nasir Al-Shaqawi’s remarks came at a press conference in Riyadh ahead of the 16th GCC engineering forum to be held in Jeddah on Feb. 24 under the auspices of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
Al-Shaqawi, who is the head of the organizing committee of the forum, said the scientific committee had selected 15 papers for the GCC Engineering Union awards in excellence and innovation for its upcoming session that will come under the motto “environment-friendly green building projects”.
During the 15th session, the Supreme Council of the Union approved the subject matter of the awards to be centered on two themes: the design of green buildings and use of smart technologies to rationalize energy, water and other sources, the SCE head was quoted by the local press as saying.
For his part, member of SCE board Ibrahim bin Abdullah Al-Hammad said the forum would be joined by key figures and experts on environmental issues, including Makkah Deputy Gov. Abdulaziz Al-Khaudairi, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Municipality and Rural Affairs, the deputy minister of higher education, secretary-general of the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and the secretary-general of the Gulf Engineering Union.
Number of Saudi engineers 30,000
