RIYADH: All is set for the opening of a gamechanger major $35billion development project to be launched later this week by the Saudi King in Eastern Province of the Kingdom.
The experts believe the project as one of the largest and most ambitious industrial city projects in the Middle East which according to them will play a key role in the development and diversification of Saudi Arabia’s economy.
Ras Al Khair, a $35 billion multi commodity minerals hub located in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province, has been an ongoing initiative for over 10 years. While the city’s first facility entered operations in 2011, Ras Al Khair only recently completed development of its major facilities and infrastructure, emphasizing the sheer scale and size of the project while still retaining substantial scope for future expansion.
The City’s various key facilities will be formally inaugurated by Saudi Arabia’s Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz on November 29, 2016 under the title: The inauguration of Ras Al Khair, the center of Saudi mining.
Ras Al Khair is a key part of the Kingdom’s efforts to create entire industrial value chains and drive economic diversification.
It is a key example of how the Kingdom’s leadership is delivering on the goal of Saudi Vision 2030 to reduce dependence on oil-based income and facilitate national economic diversification. Equally as important, the city demonstrates the Vision’s objective to build entire industrial value chains locally, especially as it is home to mining giant Ma’aden’s integrated aluminium and phosphate operations.
Ras Al Khair is set to generate 12,000 direct jobs and tens of thousands more indirectly for the local workforce and contributes $9 billion annually towards Saudi Arabia’s non-oil gross domestic product.
“There is no doubt that Ras Al Khair will play a pivotal part in helping the Kingdom move away from oil-based income. We are confident that the city will help establish Saudi Arabia’s mining sector on the global stage and also contribute to the generation of multiple downstream investment opportunities,” Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih, said, whose ministry is a key stakeholder in the project’s development.
In addition to Ma’aden’s integrated complexes for aluminium and phosphate production, Ras Al Khair is supported by key infrastructure including a 1400-kilometer railway connecting to the main mines in the country, a major port supporting exporting operations, one of the world’s largest desalination and power plants and a fully functioning village for workers.
