The major milestone comes within a year of JEC's launch in November last year by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul-aziz.
Malaysian conglomerate MMC International Holdings Limited and construction group Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) signed an agreement with Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (Chalco) to develop, own and operate an aluminium smelter at JEC for $2 billion (SR7.5 billion). The smelter will have an annual production capacity of approximately one million metric tons, MMC the utilities and infrastructure group, said in a statement.
The ceremony was inaugurated by Prince Mohammad Bin Naser, Governor of Jazan, in the presence of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) Governor Amr Al-Dabbagh, Abdullah Mohammad Al-Qarni, Mayor of Jazan, as well as local and foreign dignitaries.
Prince Mohammad announced the construction of an independent power station and a mini-port at JEC. The Governor also laid the foundation stone for the SR600 million coastal Shaqiq-Jizan highway.
"We are very pleased with the overall progress of JEC, which has commenced construction within one year of its launch," Al-Dabbagh said.
The latest addition of the second aluminum smelter and power plant with an investment close to $5 billion (SR18.75 billion) will bring the total capital invested in JEC to $20 billion (SR75 billion). The original investment envisaged for JEC was $30 billion (SR112.5 billion) over a period of 25 years.
"We have achieved two-thirds of this amount one year after the project's launch," Dabbagh said. "This investment by Chalco in a smelter with an integrated power plant is the single largest investment by a Chinese company in Saudi Arabia."
A power plant with a generation capacity of 1,860 MW, which is estimated to cost $2 billion (SR7.5 billion), will be required to satisfy the smelter's power needs. "MMC intends to own at least 50 percent of this power plant," said MMC Group Chief Executive, Feizal Ali, "which will form part of a larger power plant complex that is planned to have an eventual generation capacity of 5,000 MW."
Binladin and MMC are the master developers of the city. The anchor investors are Chalco, Western Way for Industrial Development Co. Ltd. (WWIDC, a Saudi organization developing the Kingdom's mining sector), Pan Kingdom Investment Co., Yayasan Al-Bukhary, a non-profit organization dealing in education, social, religious and cultural affairs, and SAGIA.
The event also witnessed the signing of agreements by other anchor tenants, such as PKI for the establishment of the first integrated steel cluster in the Middle East at JEC.
On the occasion, MMC announced 1,000 scholarships to Saudi students to study in various disciplines in Malaysia.
In conjunction with the event, the first batch of 10 students from Jazan also registered for the Al-Bukhary Foundation scholarship program. Under the program, the Al-Bukary Foundation has committed to provide 1,000 scholarships for students from the Jazan province who come from poor family backgrounds and those with outstanding academic achievements to further their studies in universities in Malaysia.
Saudi Press Agency 2007
