Second industrial city planned for Saudi’s Aseer region

SPA

• 17.3m sq m development
• Target of 2.1m jobs in sector
• Area is kingdom’s ‘rising star’

Work has started on a second industrial city in the Aseer region of Saudi Arabia after the first attracted investments of more than SR2 billion ($533 million).

The development is being implemented by the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones (Modon) and the Aseer Region Development Authority.

The Second Aseer Industrial City covers an area of 17.3 million square metres and aims to support the National Industrial Strategy’s goals, including tripling industry’s GDP contribution to SAR895 billion ($239 billion) and increasing industrial exports to SAR557 billion ($149 billion).

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The project will focus on 11 industrial sub-sectors including food, medicine, pharmaceuticals, wood and furniture, clothing and textiles, and metals.

The first phase will see the development of a 2 million sq m area connected by new roads, infrastructure works and treatment plants.

Land allocation has also begun, with investments of nearly SAR400 million already pledged to set up factories.

The developers have invested SAR100 million ($27 million) to establish a construction materials factory while another SAR150 million investment will go into a business incubator and accelerator.

They have also allocated SAR35 million ($9 million) to set up a factory specialising in manufacturing medical supplies and SAR80 million into an agricultural production plant. Another SAR24 million will be spent to establish an animal feed production factory.

Modon said it had partnered with the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation to address the expected demand for skilled workers in the new industrial city. 

Last month, Modon said the First Aseer Industrial City had reached an occupancy rate of more than 95 percent.

The Aseer region is “a rising star” in Saudi Arabia and has “unrealised economic potential,” Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at Century Financial, told AGBI.