JEDDAH: Nineteen Saudi and international companies signed agreements yesterday to establish new investment projects at the Jizan Economic City (JEC) in the Kingdom's south, bringing the total investments attracted by the JEC to SR115 billion ($30.67 billion).

The agreements were signed during a ceremony organized in Jizan by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) in association with the JEC's developers, Malaysia's MMC and the Saudi Binladin Group. The projects include a car manufacturing factory, a huge aluminum smelter and an industrial port.

Jizan Gov. Prince Mohammed bin Nasser, who attended the ceremony, said the JEC and the new oil refinery in Jizan would boost the region's economic development. The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has set a deadline of March 2009 for bidders to set up the refinery that is scheduled to come online in 2015. The JEC is expected to create 500,000 new jobs.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah laid the foundation for the JEC in November 2006. The city will have a port, an industrial zone, a logistic service center, an energy/desalination plant and a residential zone.

SAGIA chief Amr Dabbagh said the JEC was planned in line with the government's strategy to achieve balanced development in all regions. He was in Beijing recently to discuss the development of the aluminum smelter in the JEC.

“The JEC has achieved $26 billion worth of investments within a time span of two years, well ahead of the 25-year target envisaged during the project launch in 2006,” said Feizal Ali, CEO of MMC, in a statement. The statement listed firms from China, Malaysia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that have signed memoranda of understanding to develop a deep-water port, a ship-building site, and factories for steel, aluminum and car components.

It said partners in the projects include port operator China Merchants Holdings, Malaysian holding companies GIIG and Puncak Semangat Sdn, China's Hebei Iron and Steel, Malaysian carmaker DRB-Hicom, Telekom Malaysia, China's CPI Power Engineering, Aluminum Corp. of China and Pakistan's Hashoo Group.

Located about 50 km north of Jizan city, JEC will be spread over an area of 100 million sq. m. About 12 km of this land is situated close to the Jizan coast while 8 km is inland. SAGIA, the main facilitator of the project, said JEC would focus on heavy industries that require intense use of energy, which is readily available in the Kingdom. Jizan is located in a strategic position close to international maritime routes in the Red Sea as well as the Indian Ocean.

“This will facilitate marketing of JEC products in Asia, Africa and Europe,” the statement said.

The city will also have secondary industries related to agriculture and fisheries, and a full-fledged research center to support them. A regional center for the distribution of iron ore will also be established.

MMC is one of the largest companies in Malaysia specializing in engineering, construction, mining, transportation, logistic services, energy and power generation. It owns and manages the main ports in Malaysia. Saudi Binladin Group has built several industrial and residential cities around the world.