Tatweer Buildings Company, a government-owned corporation specialized in project management set up to develop the education environment in Saudi Arabia, announced its plans to have public-private partnership to finance and construct educational institutions at a total cost of SR45 billion over the coming five years, Al-Hayat daily reported. This was among the highlights of the ongoing conference on investment and financing for educational buildings, to be organized by Tatweer at Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh. The projects are designed to fulfill the requirements of the ambitious National Transformation Program, which forms part of the Vision 2030 approved by the Council of Ministers on Monday. Fahd Al-Hammad, CEO of Tatweer, said the conference aims at bringing out qualitative leap in investments in the educational construction sector in the Kingdom. The agenda of the conference include plans and programs for alternative financing, and investment opportunities in the educational building sector, that were prepared in partnership with specialized consultant houses. He said the company is currently implementing 416 educational building projects in Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah and Al-Ahsa that can accommodate a total of 189,000 male and female students. "The projects are being implemented under a timetable with maintaining top quality and safety standards, and the completed projects will be delivered on time." Al-Hammad said the company is being run by a Saudi professional team, whose members are holders of higher degrees in engineering and administrative specializations. Tatweer has achieved 90 percent Saudization, he said. Regarding the company's expansion plans, Al-Hammad said Tatweer is working on long term strategic plans and short term annual plans, and these include projects in both public and private sectors. "We have plans to take up new projects of the Ministry of Education in the coming two years. Our plans also include implementing maintenance and renovation projects in all regions of the Kingdom over the next four years," he added.
