RIYADH - An estimated SR400 million has been invested in setting up 800 factories in technology zones under the Saudi Organization for Industrial Estates and Technology Zones (SOIETZ) in Riyadh.
Speaking to Arab News, Mohammed Al-Otai, administration manager at SOIETZ, and Mohammed S. Al-Motairi, acting manager at SOIETZ, said that there is a new trend among major Saudi businessmen to establish private industrial estates that would exclusively be reserved for them.
"There is a big demand for such estates," Al-Otai said, adding that a separate industrial estate for women is also under consideration.
Al-Motairi explained that a salient requirement for industries coming up in the technology zones is that they should focus on high technology in a field that is relevant to the Saudi economy. The scope of the Saudi Economic Offset Program has also been widened to include projects that lead to technology transfer. In the past, only defense-oriented contracts were tied to the offset projects. Giving a breakdown of the projects set up in the technology zones, Ali Al-Suhaibani and Azzam Mohammed Abbas of SOIETZ said the Al-Obeikan Group has been allocated 930,000 square meters of land for the establishment of 69 factories. One of them includes a project worth over $100 million (SR375 million) to produce one-sided coated duplex boards from recycled waste paper.
According to Fahd Al-Obeikan, chairman of Riyadh-based Obeikan Industrial Investment Group, the company will invest in a new greenfield mill that will use treated city effluents that are available in abundant quantity.
The project, which is to be jointly financed by Obeikan and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, will have a total production capacity of 100,000 tons per year, which could be expanded to 160,000 tons in the future.
Al-Motairi said the Al-Ajmi group had plans to establish 60 factories, including those for power generation, over an area of 1.3 million sq. meters. Al-Muhaideb will set up 60 factories, including some for water and power projects, over an area of 900,000 sq. meters.
By Javid Hassan
© Arab News 2007
