Investments of $700bn planned
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia is planning infrastructure investments of $700 billion over the next two decades with many opportunities for overseas investors, according to Prince Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki Al Saud.

The major sectors for development in Saudi Arabia include electricity at SR435 billion ($115.71 billion), water at SR330 billion ($87.78 billion), telecommunications at SR225 billion ($59.85 billion), petrochemicals at SR345 billion ($91.77 billion) and basic infrastructure projects totalling SR525 billion ($139.65 billion), said the chairman and CEO of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (Sagia).
Prince Abdullah also said the restructuring of the Saudi economy and the steady growth rates have been opening new horizons for investors each year.

$13bn projects for privatisation
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia is to unveil specifications for 21 water and power projects worth nearly $13 billion as part of an ambitious privatisation drive, Water and Electricity Minister Ghazi Al Gosaibi said.

A report stated that the government had endorsed a plan to open up 20 vital sectors for local and foreign private investors, last November, in a bid to generate tens of billions of dollars to pay for a staggering public debt.
Areas opened up to the private sector include telecommunications, water desalination, air transport, airport services, construction and management of highways, seaport services and local oil refineries.

Two expressways inaugurated
Riyadh: Crown Prince Abdullah recently inaugurated two expressways that constitute a major portion of an east-west highway project.

The two expressways - the Qasim-Madinah and the Madinah-Rabigh-Thole - constructed at a total cost of SR3.3 billion ($880 million) have a combined length of 648 km and are parts of the Qasim-Madinah-Jeddah Expressway, linking the east of Saudi Arabia with the west.

Saudi Arabia has also announced plans to establish an international expressway linking the country with Jordan in the north and Yemen in the south. The government has already made allocations for the road, which will pass by Tewal, Jizan, Darb, Qunfuda, Laith, Jeddah, Yanbu and north Aqaba.

Qasim airport expansion open
Qasim: The expansion project of the royal terminal at the Qasim Regional Airport was inaugurated by Prince Sultan, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Defence and Aviation, recently. The Presidency of Civil Aviation has spent more than  SR300 million ($80 million) on the airport's expansion projects since it was established.