A group of Saudi investors are negotiating with 24 international firms to set up a $2 billion industrial city for advanced technology industries, reported the Gulf Daily News on Sunday.
Most of the companies, from Germany, India, Japan, the United States, South Africa and South Korea, have given preliminary consent to start manufacturing their products in the city once it is completed, said the paper.
The companies specialize in medical equipment, communications, satellites, electricity, alternative energy, industrial equipment and other areas.
Ahmad Al Joufi, general manager of Naseyat Investment Center, which is handling the negotiations, said the city would also contain a research institute, a technology university and a small port.
It will be built on a 100-square-kilometer plot on the Red Sea between the cities of Jeddah and Yanbu, Joufi said, cited by the paper.
He said that although no official license had been issued by Saudi authorities, provisional approval had been secured.
The investors have also gained the provisional consent of international and Gulf banks for funding the project, following negotiations with US investment bank JP Morgan, he said.
Construction is projected to take three years from a launch date, and the main contractor will build the infrastructure before handing it over to foreign companies to set up their own factories, Joufi explained – Albawaba.com
