JAZAN – About 42 international companies have agreed to join hands with Gammon Group to develop the new industrial city in Jazan, according to the group's Chairman Sheikh Rafik Mohammed. The recently concluded Jazan Economic Forum (JEF) was a milestone in attracting several leading global giants to tap the vast investment opportunities available in Jazan, as well as to benefit from big incentives offered by the Saudi government to investors, he said. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Mohammed said his group, which has been assigned to facilitate developing the industrial city, is currently processing the requests from several big companies and business tycoons who have come forward to make investments in the city. B.R. Shetty, chief executive officer and managing director of New Medical Center Group of Companies and UAE Exchange, is one among them. The UAE-based Indian billionaire unveiled his plans to make investments worth SR2 billion in healthcare and pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors in the new city. Shree Basaveshwar Sugars Ltd. (SBSL), another Indian group, came forward to establish an SR1.5 billion sugar refinery project in the city. “A number of leading companies from Japan, China, South Korea, India and other countries are interested to make investments in the city and Gammon is negotiating with these companies,” he said. Prince Turki Bin Mohammed Bin Nasser, director of international trade at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has been appointed by the Saudi government as the authority to develop the SR75 billion city. Gammon Group signed an agreement with Prince Turki in December 2013 to develop the city by bringing in foreign investors to build its entire infrastructure facilities such as roads, bridges, commercial centers, power plants, water treatment plants, oil refineries and petrochemical plants. Mohammed urged investors to seize the opportunity to grab government incentives by making investments in the Kingdom. He noted that the Saudi government will pay the investors 75 percent of their project cost in soft loans for 20 years, and the amount of loan reaches up to SR1.2 billion.
Gammon Group, with a capital of two billion dirhams, is a global construction company with strong presence in emerging markets in Asia, Middle East and North Africa. Mohammed, who became chairman of the Dubai-based group 13 years ago, said that the group spread its wings to Saudi Arabia in 2009. Dr. Faiz Al-Abideen, CEO of Gammon Group, said the government's keenness in promoting Jazan's overall development has become a stimulus for the phenomenal and enormous investment flow to this region. Among the plants going to be established in the city, there is a giant tire factory with an annual productive capacity of 1.2 million tires,” he said, adding that Gammon is doing its best to facilitate the investors to complete all the necessary procedures within a short span of time. Riyas Mohammed, director of the group, said the multinational companies, which are making investments in the city include South Korea's POSCO, Hebort International of Hong Kong, and the Chinese solar giant Ying Li Solar. “POSCO plans to set up a steel factory while Hebort wants to establish a water factory,” he added. — SG
