Nearly half of all foreign investment into Saudi Arabia has been earmarked for the industrial city of Jubail, according to the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu.
The Jubail Directorate General functions under the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu. The commission is mandated with the overall development of the two twin industrial cities.
"Jubail is constructed to extremely high engineering and construction standards, not only in terms of reliability but also in the ability of the infrastructure to be upgraded and expanded to provide uninterrupted industrial production," says Dr Jasem Al Ansari, Director General for Jubail. Already, Jubail Industrial City is busily transforming itself with a range of new infrastructure projects such as sea water cooling, pipeline corridors and the new 12km expressway cutting through the industrial area to connect with the Dammam highway, which is due for completion next summer and which is to be extended later to the new Industrial City expansion, Jubail 2.
"The significance of this new wave of industrial development is of unprecedented importance to the Kingdom," Al Ansari told tradearabia.com
"For example, a quarter of all Saudis in the Kingdom's industrial sector are now employed in Jubail Industrial City, and the national importance of this new wave of industrial development cannot be underestimated.
"We are now experiencing a significant increase in industrial demand, almost similar to the boom period of the early 1990s," says Ansari. A noted academic and writer, Ansari also has the personal distinction of being the first mechanical engineering student to graduate from the original College of Petroleum and Minerals that later became the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). The former dean of faculty and professor of mechanical engineering at KFUPM in Dhahran, Al Ansari has been at the helm of the Royal Commission in Jubail for nine years. Already, industrial production and associated infrastructure growth and expansion in Jubail Industrial City have exceeded by more than 80 per cent all the forecasts set forth in the Master Plan developed for the city in 1984, says Ansari.
A far-reaching review of Jubail's master planning and long-term industrial strategy has been developed by the Royal Commission and presented to various ministries and appropriate bodies over the last few years to help facilitate and meet the future development requirements of the kingdom's petrochemical sector.
"In Jubail now, the total amount of investments has reached more than $47 billion both fom the private and public sectors," says Ansari. Some $4 billion is expected to be allocated for new infrastructure required in Jubail for nine world-scale plants with investment totalling $20 billion and due for completion by 2010.
Over the next decade, Jubail's daytime population is also set to nearly double, increasing to 186,000 from the current 108,000. In addition, there will be increasing investment in preparing Saudis for the workforce with training and education taking place in an expanding Jubail Industrial College, possibly the best institute of its kind in the Middle East, according to Ansari. The increasing demand for qualified technicians in areas such as welding, autocad systems and machine maintenance has also instigated the setting up of a vocational training centre that is already under construction.
With assets already approaching $34 billion in the primary industry sector, by 2011 primary industries are estimated to have an asset value of more than $50 billion.
All aspects of preparing and managing Jubail Industrial City and the residential areas are under the Royal Commission's responsibility, ranging from providing potable water and seawater cooling, the treatment of industrial and sanitary waste and promoting investment opportunities to allocation and leasing of land for industrial, commercial and residential developments. The Royal Commission is also responsible for urban services including road construction and maintenance, telecommunications, recreational facilities, education, health care, and strict enforcement of environmental regulations.
Currently, six major expansions are taking place in the existing 17 world-scale plants in operation. Three new industrial complexes are under construction valued at $5 billion and nine new plants are in the active planning stage.
