CSC welcomes government move to boost auto industry

The Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC) has welcomed the government’s move to boost the Kingdom’s automobile industry with the signing of the agreement on Tuesday in Riyadh to build a new Land Rover manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia.
The deal between the National Industrial Clusters Development Program (NICDP) and Jaguar Land Rover Company, a subsidiary of Tata Group, will attract foreign investment and provide job opportunities for the local work force.
The initial investment is estimated at $ 1.2 billion and the proposed manufacturing plant is expected to produce 50,000 Land Rovers a year, by 2017.
Azzam Shalabi, president of the National Industrial Clusters Development, and Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover Company, signed the deal in the presence of Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, Commerce and Industry minister, and Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group and Jaguar Land Rover Company.
CSC Chairman Abdullah Al-Mobti spoke in Riyadh after the signing. “It’s the right move in the right direction to accommodate these automobile manufacturers in the Kingdom. It not only brings foreign investment to the country, but will also train a local work force in the automobile manufacturing industry.”
He said the efforts of the NICDP would represent a quantum leap in the automobile industry in the country and generate new opportunities for cooperation between the Kingdom and other industrialized countries.
“Thanks to our wise leadership, the minister of commerce and industry, the Saudi Industrial Property Authority, and the NICDP; they have paved the way for a global automobile industry in the Kingdom,” Al-Mobti said. “Their efforts contributed to the introduction of Japanese technology through the Isuzu Company. This deal will now allow the Kingdom to utilize British technology,” he added.
Al-Mobti said the admission of a second automobile manufacturer to the Kingdom has laid the groundwork for others to follow. “It will also represent a shift from the traditional sector to the nontraditional.”