CAIRO: The global investor community's growing confidence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's economic standing was further strengthened yesterday with Siemens, a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering operating in the energy, infrastructure, industry and health care sectors, signing a major deal with Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon) for the construction of a manufacturing and service facility in Dammam. The Dammam plant will be the largest of its kind in the Middle East and third at world level after its two plants in Germany and the US, according to Siemens. Hours later, Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal officially launched Modon's second industrial city in Jeddah and laid the foundation for a third project. He said the second city had already attracted 330 industries with a total investment of SR15 billion. Modon is currently developing 33 million square meters of land in Jeddah, including eight million square meters for the second industrial city, 20 million square meters for the third industrial city and five million square meters for the fourth one. Siemens Energy, meanwhile, will lease a 220,000-square-meter plot of land — equivalent to about 30 soccer fields — in Dammam Industrial City and invest millions of riyals in building a center for the local manufacturing of gas turbines, compressors and heat recovery steam generators as well as repair shops and service facilities for the Saudi market. Commerce and Industry Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, who was present at the signing ceremony, appreciated the German company for choosing the Kingdom to set up its third largest plant of its kind in the world. He said the project will give an added value to the national economy by localizing power production technologies. Modon Director General Saleh Al-Rasheed, and Siemens (Saudi Arabia) CEO Arja Talakar signed the agreement. Construction on the Dammam project is due to start in May. Once completed in late 2013, the center will create job opportunities for young Saudis and serve as a technological hub for knowledge transfer of the latest Siemens Energy technology. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/a6KTZ Tags: Investment, Saudi Arabia, Siemens Section: Business, Latest News, Saudi Arabia
