JUBAIL: Samsung Saudi Arabia (SSA) has opened its new engineering complex here to serve as the hub for recruitment, education and training of Saudi engineers who would be employed by the company. The engineering complex, called Samsung Naffora Techno Valley at Jubail Industrial City, was funded, developed and constructed by SSA with total investment of over $100 million. It has three integrated sections – the engineering, training, and community centers. “We are delighted to open the Samsung Naffora Techno Valley complex, which has engineering center for project execution and training of Saudi engineers,” said Ki Seok park, president of Samsung Engineering, during a press briefing. “The training center to impart knowledge on engineering, procurement, construction, project management, and safety. It is also a community center free to be used for community activities and sports event and an expression of our corporate social responsibility,” he added. Samsung Engineering has 6,000 employees in Saudi Arabia, 180 of them are Saudis, said Jeong Kee hong, managing director of Samsung Saudi Arabia. “Naffora Techno Valley is a facility for upgrading skill in project execution and a state-of-the-art engineering center designed to create a productive work environment and to increase our in-Kingdom operation,” Hong said. Samsung Engineering entered the Saudi market in 1999 and has since executed 24 projects worth more than $12 billion, mostly for Saudi Aramco and Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC). In the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are its major markets, according to Pyo Kong hong, Samsung Engineering managing director. He said the company has $6 billion worth of project in UAE, and is bidding for a refinery project of Qatar Petroleum. In Saudi Arabia, Hong said, there are 13 ongoing projects with total value of $6.5 billion. Project in Saudi Aramco includes two refinery projects — a joint venture of Total and Saudi Aramco, the cogeneration project with Aramco Wasit Gas Plant and four packages of recovery projects at the Shaibah NGL plant complex. He said the company is bidding projects in the Aramco-Dow joint venture in Ras Tanura and Aramco-Sumitomo joint venture projects in Petro-Rabigh.
