Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Crown Prince and Chairman of the Large Companies Investment Committee, Mohammed bin Salman, attended today, March 1, a ceremony to announce the first wave of supported projects for large companies joining the Private Sector Partnership Reinforcement Center (Shareek).
On March 30, 2021, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched Shareek, which currently includes 28 private firms in the Kingdom.
The ceremony witnessed the signing of framework agreements for 12 projects, approved within the Shareek incentives criteria, across eight companies, in a number of strategic sectors.
These projects will contribute to the Kingdom's economic growth, diversify industries, promote innovation, and further enable public-private partnerships.
The total value of these projects stands at nearly SAR 192 billion, in which the share of Shareek large companies reaches about SAR 120 billion. The projects will contribute up to SAR 466 billion to the Kingdom’s GDP in the next two decades, with an economic multiplier of 2.43, given their high strategic and economic importance for the Kingdom.
The first package of these projects will have a positive impact on several sectors in the Kingdom and provide 64,451 jobs, said Abdulaziz Al Arifi, CEO of Shareek.
As part of the projects announced today, Saudi Aramco will receive support to accelerate implementation of five projects, which will create more than 10,000 jobs, including a joint venture steel plate manufacturing project, aiming to make Saudi Arabia 100% self-sufficient for steel plate demand by 2030.
This also includes a cloud project, which will attract Google Cloud services into the Kingdom and establish Saudi Arabia as a hub for advanced cloud computing technologies; and, an engine manufacturing project, which will aid in the development of a sustainable maritime sector and unlock greater value from metals and machinery sectors, which are central to diversified industrial development.
Aramco’s list of projects includes a casting and forging project in Ras Al Khair, which will enhance the integration of industrial supply chains in the Kingdom, and the Amiral Petrochemical Complex project, contributing to the localization of chemicals production, with the aim to strengthen the Kingdom’s global leadership in the petrochemical industry.
Also in the energy sector, ACWA Power will receive Shareek support for the construction of the world’s largest green hydrogen plant, which is being developed in partnership with NEOM Green Hydrogen Company and Air Products Qudra. The project demonstrates Saudi Arabia’s capabilities as a green energy leader, in support of the Kingdom’s net zero ambitions.
Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Maaden) will receive support to accelerate its Phosphate 3 project in Wa’ad Al Shamal, which is set to position the company as the third largest global producer of phosphate fertilizers by 2029 and enhance the Kingdom’s position in the world’s agricultural value chain, aiding global food security.
Giant petrochemicals producer, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), received support for a catalyst project, primed to reduce Saudi Arabia’s import dependency and enhance its position as an exporter by establishing the Kingdom’s first catalyst manufacturing hub.
Through a joint venture, Shareek will provide support to Advanced Petrochemical Co. to produce methionine, which will contribute to enhancing domestic food security and animal production efficiency.
In the telecommunications industry, stc will implement an EMC cable project, strengthening Saudi Arabia’s position as a MENA region digital hub and reliable route for data traffic. Also, Zain KSA will be accelerating a data center project, set to help transform the Kingdom into a digital economy by ensuring readiness for future IT advancements.
National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) will scale up its capacity for ammonia transportation through a project supported by Shareek, set to provide ammonia transport services for the first time in the Kingdom. This will reduce international vessel dependency and enhance local content in the logistics sector.
Shareek aims to unlock SAR 5 trillion in domestic private sector investments by 2030 and contribute to the goals set out in Vision 2030, which target an increase in private sector GDP contribution to 65% and an increase in non-oil exports from 16% to 50%.
The program is implemented with the support of several sectorial supervisory committees led by senior government officials. The projects announced at the event represent the first wave of supported projects. Many more are expected to be supported, and these will be announced in due course.
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