RIYADH: Up to 140 projects in Saudi Arabia, including four airports and 4,500 km of road developments, are open for private investment as the Kingdom pushes ahead with its economic diversification plan.
Spread over 17 sectors, the National Center for Privatization unveiled more details about its approved projects, including the airports of Abha, Taif, Hail and Qassim, that have been made available to local and international investors.
“The Kingdom has the largest series of privatization projects in the region, which include various qualitative investments, and these are made available in advance to give investors the opportunity to prepare well in advance before their offering,” NCP CEO Mohannad Basodan said in an interview with Al-Arabiya.
He also noted that in the past five years, the NCP has awarded contracts for 43 projects – including those of partnership, sale of assets, and institutional transformation.
Basodan revealed that the first quarter of 2023 witnessed the signing of contracts for projects in the transport sector, including Spanish-Saudi, and Chinese-Saudi alliances. “There is a diversity of operations to attract foreign investors and available projects.”
Revealing more details of the privatization program, Basodan said the health sector will incorporate hospitals, health services, laboratories and radiology, whereas the education sector will include academic establishments, and water and wastewater treatment projects.
In addition to these scheduled projects, 60 were launched recently and many others are in their preparation stages.
He added that the program’s pipeline also includes another 300 projects currently under evaluation.
The pace of Saudi Arabia’s privatization program is accelerating with investments now exceeding $50 billion, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Minister of Finance and chairman of NCP, revealed in March.
During his participation in the roundtable discussions with consortia of South Korean firms in Seoul last month, Al-Jadaan pointed out that the investments are being seen in 200 projects across 17 sectors.
Even though the government started the journey of privatization and partnership between the public and private sectors recently, the minister noted that it has achieved significant goals during the short period of time.
“The Kingdom has adopted a modern framework for privatization and partnership projects between the public and private sectors that is flexible and based on international best practices,” the minister explained.
