Saudi Arabia is targeting $100 billion of investment in port, airport, rail, road and logistics center projects over the next decade in a push to make the kingdom one of the world's leading transport and logistics hubs by 2020. The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) said it had identified 19 priority investment opportunities in those sectors, of which 15 would be based in the Kingdom's planned “Economic Cities”. “Saudi Arabia's investment initiative offers large-scale project opportunities for contractors, builders, and operators of transport facilities. Not only that, lucrative opportunities for constructing and operating advanced transportation and logistics infrastructure will continue to open up.” The specific 19 investment opportunities identified to date, it stated, comprised projects in the following sectors: q Ports (5): “Studies indicate several opportunities for capacity expansions and operational enhancements with attractive opportunities for qualified port operators. Jeddah Islamic Port alone could increase capacity by 30-50 percent.” q Air (3): “Air operators are sought to drive expansions to Saudi Arabia air transport infrastructure. For example, significant upgrades are currently underway at Jeddah Airport and a new cargo village has been planned.” q Rail (3): “The rail infrastructure in Saudi is in need of major expansion, creating significant investment opportunities for railway operators and related industries. Planned projects include the 950 km Jeddah-Dammam Land Bridge and a 2,000 km mineral line running north to south.” q Road (3): “SAGIA seeks to invest in roads to accommodate basic demand growth in addition to traffic resulting from the establishment and evolution of the Economic Cities.” q Logistics Centers (5): “Rising demand and deliberate public investment will drive development of world-class capabilities in supply chain management.”
