Saudi-Arabien Wirtschaftshandbuch Saudi Arabia Business ... - Ghorfa

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tourism sector. According to information provided by
the Saudi Committee for Development of International
Trade (CIT), the state intends to invest 624 billion US$
by 2020 as follows: infrastructure (120 billion US$),
petrochemicals (92 billion), generation and supply of
electricity (90 billion), water desalination (88 billion),
telecom and IT (71 billion), tourism (53 billion), gas
production (50 billion), agriculture (28 billion) and education
(11 billion).
In expectation of a growing demand for oil on the world
market, Saudi Arabia intends to continue with its course
of exploring for and/or developing further oil fields. The
goal is to increase the oil output to 22.5 million barrels a
day by 2020, which is more than double today’s output.
Although foreign investment is not permitted in the oil
production field, German companies may actively participate
in the industry by offering engineering services,
delivery equipment or producing customised parts. The
Kingdom is currently concentrating on developing its
position in the crude oil processing industry. The petrochemical
production output will have been increased by
35 million t to 70 million t by the year 2010. Also, the
production of natural gas will be significantly increased
to meet the growing demand. In contrast to the up-stream
business of the crude oil sector, foreign companies are allowed
to participate in the natural gas sector.
Saudi Arabia has reacted to the challenges presented by a
dynamic economic development and growing population
by investing heavily in the infrastructure field. This includes
new projects for the development of the road network, the
expansion and/or new construction of airports and ports
and the expansion of the railway network. The large-scale
expansion of the road network over the next few years will
also include the construction of new motorways, A-roads
and ring roads around larger towns. Core projects here
are the development of the north and east bypass around
Riyadh, the construction of new ring roads around Jeddah,
Mecca, Taif, Hail and Dammam, the completion of the
motorway from Riyadh to Asir, a six-lane motorway from
Medina to Hail and one from Dammam along the Gulf
coast to Salwa on the border to Qatar. German consulting
companies should try and exploit the opportunities for
participation here. German engineering competence still
has a very good reputation in Saudi Arabia.
There are plans to dynamically develop the water sector
over the next few years. The focus here is on erecting more
dams and in particular the construction of new seawater
desalination and water treatment plants. In total, the
Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA)
estimates that it will require 200 billion US$ capital to
realise all the planned projects in the water sector by the
year 2015. German companies from the water sector are
very sought-after partners in Saudi Arabia. The first seawater
desalination plants in the Kingdom were constructed
by Germans and are still operational today. However
these plants will need to be replaced over the next few
years. The planned expansion of the waste water treatment
capacities offer German suppliers of technological
equipment great opportunities.
The strategy for developing new economic centres has
reached new dimensions. Saudi Arabia’s goal is to catch
up with the dynamic growth trends in the region, to
provide Saudi investors who have been investing their
money abroad with domestic investment opportunities,
to acquire new foreign investors and generate new jobs
to solve the serious unemployment problem. The responsibility
for the erection of the new economic cities and
checking progress has been given to the Saudi Arabian
General Investment Authority (SAGIA). Its job is to attract
investors, give them land, accompany them during
the development of the infrastructure and to issue them
with licences in a „one-stop-shop“ process. A total of six
economic cities are currently being planned.
The erection of a financial district to the north of Riyadh
is also in the planning stages. The financial centre will
step into competition with the other large banking and
stock exchange centres in the world and will assume the
number one position in the Middle East. The stock exchange,
banks and other financial institutes as well as a
finance academy will all be located here. In addition there
are also plans to build conference facilities, residential
blocks and shops as well as leisure facilities.
The construction industry will probably also profit from
the developments in the tourism sector. This sector is primarily
directed at three main groups: Business travellers,
pilgrims and regular tourists. Although the number of
business travellers has dropped in recent years, the country
is optimistic that this figure will increase again now
that the economy has opened up. As far as the religious
tourism field is concerned, the hotel capacities have been
doubled in conjunction with the expansion of the transportation
capacities and the infrastructure in and around
the pilgrim cities of Mecca and Medina. Growth is also
expected in the regular domestic tourism field. There are
plans to construct forty new hotels in 2007 and 2008.
Despite the ongoing boom in the construction field, the
number of German construction companies active in