Saudi Arabia to set up second economic city

Riyadh: King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz has announced establishment of the Kingdom's second economic city in the north eastern region of Hail.

"The 30 billion Saudi riyal city will create more than 30,000 job opportunities and will accelerate the economic progress and development of the country," the king said at a reception on Tuesday evening.

Addressing the gathering, King Abdullah promised that he will allocate additional funds for the overall development of the regions, which did not have their due stake in the development projects.

"The government will not show any disparity between one region and the other," the king said.

The new economic city, which is named after Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Musaid, will be the second among the five cities to be developed by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (Sagia) in various regions of the Kingdom.

The king launched the first city, the 100 billion riyal King Abdullah Econ-omic City last December.

A massive 55 million square metres of greenfield land with a 35 kilometre shoreline close to the industrial city of Rabegh, north of Jeddah, has been earmarked for the city, of which the UAE's Emaar is the master developer.

Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Musaid Economic City will have 12 distinct components, including residential and commercial facilities as well as an airport, dry port, centre for agricultural industries and supporting services, separate zones for transformation industries, recreation and mining, besides a business centre.

The giant city project will be developed by a consortium consisting of several major companies such as the Abu Dhabi Investment House, Gulf Development House, Kano Group, BWC, Ahmad Hamad Al Qasabi Group, Al Obaikan Group, Al Abdul Latief Group, Al Rashed Group and Saudi Agricultural Group.