Saudi Industrial Property Authority (MODON), the Kingdom's industrial regulatory body, is seeking to develop an industrial culture by inspiring young Saudi students to understand the importance of industrial cities and industrial production in the country. Dr. Tawfig Al-Rabiah, MODON Director General, in a press statement to Saudi Gazette, said that as part of its social responsibility, MODON during the past four months has organized school visits of over 3,000 students from 120 schools to the Kingdom's industrial cities located in different parts of the country. He said MODON, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education has sought to implant a sense of industrial production in the minds of students by identifying the products made in Saudi Arabia. “We want to broaden the understanding of Saudi students about the importance of industrial development in the country and expansion of industrial cities in Saudi Arabia,” he said. The basic purpose of school trips to the industrial cities was to acquaint students with national achievements in the sphere of industrial development, he said. MODON has been organizing school visits to industrial cities located throughout the Kingdom, he said. During school visits, the students were briefed at a reception at each industrial city and were given souvenirs. Al-Rabiah said that schools can arrange for their students to take part in the MODON school visit program to industrial cities by communicating through email [email protected]. MODON currently oversees 14 industrial cities in different regions of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Makkah, Qassim, Ahsa, Madina, Asir, Al-Jouf, Tabuk, Hail and Najran. Five more industrial cities are being established, including Sudair City for Industry and Business, Al-Kharj Industrial City, Jeddah 2nd Industrial City, Ar'ar Industrial City and Jizan Industrial City. There are also industrial cities in the planning phase in different regions, such as Dammam, Al-Ahsa, Duba, Zulfi, Taif, Qurayyat, and Al-Baha. Investment in the existing industrial cities exceeds SR200 billion. The industrial cities in the Kingdom employ over 300,000 workers while MODON, created in 2001 by government legislation, is responsible for developing and supervising industrial land in the Kingdom. Currently, MODON supervises over 60 percent of the existing factories located in the Kingdom's various industrial cities. MODON is also responsible for creating an ideal environment for developing and upgrading Technology Zones in the Kingdom while its larger goal is to have a Saudi industry capable of competing in local and international markets as well.
