Riyadh—Yesterday, the Council of Economic Development and Affairs (CEDA) announced the official launch of the nation’s Privatization Program. The NCP-led initiative aims to boost the contribution of sectors to the national economy through a range of qualitative programs that seeks to transform the economy and make it more robust and dynamic.
Turki A. Al Hokail, the CEO and board member of NCP, said the Vision 2030’s Privatization Program will focus on 10 government sectors, including environment, water and agriculture; transportation; energy; labor and social development; telecommunications and IT; education; municipalities; health; housing; and Haj and Umrah.
“The Privatization Program aims to enhance competitiveness, elevate the quality of service and economic development, and improve the business environment through privatizing government services,” said Al Hokail. “It seeks to eliminate all obstacles that may limit the private sector from playing a larger role in the development of the Kingdom’s economy, including developing and operationalizing the legal system related to markets and businesses and drafting a public-private-partnership law that will protect the rights of both users and investors.
“The Privatization Program is in the interest of Saudi citizens, will bring many benefits, and improve the investment climate,” said Al Hokail. “The program’s strong governance foundation effectively will be a strong pull factor for global investors and large corporations because it sets the guidelines that will make the program attractive. It will also allow the government to focus on overseeing and monitoring progress.”
Ultimately, NCP’s Privatization Program aims to help increase the percentage of private sector contribution to GDP from 40% to 65%.
About NCP
The National Center for Privatization & PPP was established by Council of Minister (CoM) resolution No. 355 dated 7/6/1438 H, and reports to the Council of Economic and Development Affairs. The CoM resolution mandated that NCP introduce privatization through the development of programs and regulations and put in place the necessary mechanism and tools to establish entities for private sector’s participation. In addition to proposing sectors and activities for privatization, NCP conducts the necessary studies including analysis of benefits and risks in sectors proposed for privatization. NCP is also commissioned to assess the economic and developmental impact of privatization, assess the readiness of the overall economy for privatization, risk management, and contribute to the training and qualifying the human resources for privatization to ensure raising their performance level to contribute to developmental goals.
For more information:
Salem Alzahrani, Public Relations and Media Director
Email: salzahrani@ncp.gov.sa
Mobile: +966 (0) 563132700
