Sabic plans eight specialist parks

01 October 2013

Downstream industries planned to increase domestic job opportunities across Sabic’s main business units

The majority state-owned Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) is to roll out eight industrial parks aimed at creating additional jobs in the downstream conversions industries in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking at the Middle East Process Engineering Conference (MEPEC) in Bahrain, Turki al-Hamdan, Sabic’s general manager of business strategy for performance chemicals, laid out the company’s plans for future job creation. “We are planning eight specialist parks that will be aimed at integrating smaller converters with larger upstream production,” he said.

The eight parks will specialise on:

  • Engineering plastics
  • Rubber
  • Metals
  • Paints and coatings
  • Polyurethane
  • Personal care and detergent
  • Carbon fiber
  • Additives 

The parks will each contain one anchor tenant that will then feed a number of factories that can make end-user products. About 57 per cent of these products are expected to supply the domestic market, with the remainder being exported.

The strategy will strengthen the Riyadh government’s industrial diversification plans, with parks created throughout the kingdom. Al-Hamdan also said that Sabic would help with manpower training and assist international companies with their localisation strategies.

The executive also revealed that about 85 per cent of Sabic’s in-kingdom workforce is local. 

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