Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, minister of commerce and industry and chairman of the board of directors of the Saudi Industrial Property Authority (MODON), recently opened a group of factories in Dammam Second Industrial City in the presence of top executives of MODON, Al-Sharqiya Chamber of Commerce in the Eastern Province, and a number of officials and businessmen.

He also opened the Administration Building of Dammam Second Industrial City, which the administration and Customer Service Center to provide various services including certificate of origin, chamber of commerce, labor and passport office branches.

Meanwhile, MODON is keen to attract government service agencies to open offices within the limits of the industrial cities to facilitate the procedures and provision of services for industrialists in the Industrial City.

The minister then toured the Industrial City and saw the development and rehabilitation projects being carried out there. Next, he opened the factories - Welson Middle East Pipelines Co. Ltd., which has a capital of SR67 million and the production capacity of 300,000 tons. Also opened are Ma'aleh factory, Fahd Al-Thnayan for chemical products.

At the end of the tour, the minister praised the factories for employing Saudi citizens and urged factories in general to employ modern technology and increase the percentage of Saudization.

Al-Rabiah said: "Eastern Region with its largest industrial complex has became the capital of industry in the Middle East, notably in terms of industrial cities of Jubail, Ras Al-Khair, Dammam 1, 2, 3, Al-Ahsa and Hafr Al-Baten. Soon Salwa and the new industrial cities will attract more than 2,000 industrial projects and services.

Director General of MODON Saleh Al-Rashid said: "The volume of demand for industrial land in the region is a strong indicator of the future of the industry and will make the Kingdom's economy independent of oil, which is the vision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, who announced that industry is our strategic choice to diversify sources of income."

He added: "The second industrial city in Dammam has 340 factories that are in operation or under construction with employees numbering 75,000. the city has several development projects and rehabilitation of roads, sidewalks, lighting, water and wastewater treatment, landscaping and maintenance and the establishment of a highway link and electrical transfer station, totally valued at SR804 million."