The Saudi Industrial Property Authority (MODON) has signed a SR16 million contract for the development of Hafr Al-Batin Industrial City, located at northeast of the Kingdom. The new project will achieve MODON's objectives in the balanced development and will be a core for the development of the governorate attracting the private sector to establish industrial, service, commercial and residential projects, as well as creating job opportunities for citizens, specially because the industrial city is located within the cities covered by the incentives of the industrial loans which would reach up to 75 percent of the project cost. Based on a study of the site prepared by MODON, the project is located on the highway linked with the North, that is characterized by heavy trucks which also makes the city a suitable site for logistic services, such as transportation, storage, cooling, maintenance and exchange of trucks, especially that the industrial city is in the vicinity of the borders of the neighboring countries such as, Kuwait and Iraq and the highway headed for Jordan and Syria. Two regions will be developed, one for construction industries and the other for other industries separated by a region designated for logistical services. Total area of the land is 100 million square meters, while the area of the 1st phase development project is one million square meters and the contract duration is 18 months. The scope of the project includes surveying and designing works of the roads, soil leveling and pavement of roads, asphalting, painting of the roads and traffic signs. The governorate of Hafr Al-Batin lies in the Eastern Province with a population of 600,000 people. The governorate is characterized by important economic benefits, including the logistic transport movement and a conjunction point for visitors of the GCC, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. A number of international land roads pass through it. The industrial city is 17 km from Qaisumah airport, 95 kilometers from the Kuwaiti border and 80 km away from the Iraqi border. The governorate is also characterized as livestock trading center. It is the largest areas in the Middle East due to presence of more than 5 million heads of cattle. This will provide a resource for a number of industrial and logistical projects related to the meat, fodders and textiles. MODON was established in 2001. MODON is responsible for the development of integrated service lands, where MODON has established industrial cities in various regions of the Kingdom and currently oversees 28 existing or underdevelopment cities which include: Riyadh (1st., 2nd. & 3rd.), Jeddah (1st., 2nd. & 3rd.), Dammam (1st., 2nd. & 3rd.), Makkah, Qassim 1st., Al-Ahsa, Al-Madina, Al-Kharj, Sudair, Ha'il, Tabuk, Ar'ar, Al-Jouf, Assir, Jazan, Najran, Al-Baha, Qassim 2nd.,Taif, Al-Zulfi, Shaqraa, Hafr Al-Batin. There are cities under planning and designing stages as well, which include Salwa, Dhuba, Al-Baha 2nd., Military industries and Jeddah 4th. It is targeted that during the coming five years, the number of industrial cities shall reach 40 industrial cities with developed industrial lands of not less than 160 million square meters. The existing industrial cities accommodate more than 3 thousand factories with investments exceeding SR250 billion and employing more than 300 thousand workers. MODON is also responsible for creating ideal environment for developing and upgrading technology zones in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where MODON is currently overseeing two technology zones and six private industrial cities. The industrial cities have many economic advantages and incentives for attracting the industrial, technical, service, residential and commercial projects. The annual rent of the land starts from SR1 per square meter. The cost of electricity, water and fuel is subsidized by the government with a tariff especially for industry. The government funds and banks provide soft loans to industrial enterprises of up to 75 percent of the capital, at a 20 years repayment period. In addition, there are other facilities to subsidize exports by providing exports warranty and customs duty exemption on imports of raw materials and machinery.
