KHARTOUM: A company owned by a Saudi Arabian prince is planning to invest around $5 billion in telecoms, construction and industrial projects in Sudan, state media reported Wednesday. Sudan's Suna state news agency said officials from the company run by Prince Bandar Bin Khalid were looking into setting up a fourth mobile phone network in Sudan and building waste recycling plants in Khartoum state. The prince was also interested in building residential properties around Khartoum's new airport site and a $350 million hospital for the armed forces, Suna reported his officials as saying. The report did not say about how far each plan had progressed, give any more detail about their scope or name any potential partners.Suna said the head of the delegation from for the prince's Egyptian and Saudi Arabian Company for Investment and Development, Sayed Azab Al Wakil, told reporters the recycling factories would produce power and employ 10,000 people. The party, which arrived in Sudan Wednesday, was planning to sign contracts for some of the projects during its visit, reported Suna. The Khartoum government has been trying to diversify its economy and attract fresh investments from the Middle East in the build up to a Jan. 9 referendum that is expected to see its oil-producing south split away as an independent country. There are currently three companies with country-wide mobile phone licenses - South Africa's MTN, Zain of Kuwait and Sudan's own Sudani. Two other telecoms companies have licenses for the semi
