Investments in Yanbu to cross SR 200 bn

The new industrial city in Yanbu (Yanbu-2), to be completed by 2019, will include industrial projects worth SR 115 bn, according to Prince Saud i bn Abdullah i bn Thunayan, chairman of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu. He said Crown Prince Abdullah would lay the cornerstone for the mega industrial project. Covering an area of 66 sq km, it is expected to contain 34 basic and secondary industries and 224 light industries which will bring the total investments in Yanbu to more than SR 200 bn.
"We in Yanbu are looking forward to the crown prince's visit and are very happy for this meeting which reflects the tremendous support that the Royal Commission (RC) receives from our leaders," he said. Prince Abdullah will also chair the commission's board meeting.

Prince Saud said the crown prince would also launch a number of industrial, educational, power and water projects in Yanbu, which are estimated to cost more than SR 50 bn.
"SABIC will implement the largest of these projects costingSR 28 bn," he added.

The RC projects consist of a seawater pump and distribution project for cooling, establishing steam station number 4, establishing electric power branch stations, producing and distributing water desalination project and different education projects.
The private projects include levelling the location, developing the infrastructure, establishing the main power plant and branches, establishing the infrastructure for Al-Fahd district -- the city's centre -- and the main coastlines as well as the infrastructure for other districts in addition to a number of education projects that include expanding Yanbu Industrial College, establishing a technical institute and a university for girls and one for boys.

The new SABIC projects include Yanbit-II, owned by SABIC and ExxonMobil with a total investment of SR 9 bn and production capacity of 4 mm tons annually of ethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene and ethylene glycol. Another project is the Industrial Gases National Company factory (second phase), owned 70 % by SABIC and 30 % by a group of national companies for a capital investment of SR 236 mm and produces 900 tons daily of oxygen and nitrogen, which began operating this year.
The crown prince will lay the cornerstone for Yansab, Yanbu National Petrochemical Company which is owned 55 % by SABIC and 10 % by 17 Saudi and Gulf companies; 35 % of the capital will be floated in an IPO.

The investment in this project is SR 19 bn and will have a production capacity of over 4 mm tons annually of ethylene, propylene, polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene glycol, benzene, toluene, butane, and zaylene. It will be completed by the end of 2007 and will employ 1,500.
In addition to laying the cornerstones for RC's and SABIC's projects, the crown prince will also open a number of private sector factories by the private sector operating at Yanbu Industrial City at a total cost of SR 14 bn. The private sector investments also include both residential and commercial projects.