Business & Money | Sunday 27 January, 2019 4:20 am |

Saudi Arabia aims to attract investment worth 1.6 trillion riyals ($427 billion) through a national industrial development and logistics program, Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said on Saturday.

He said Riyadh would announce projects in the program worth 70 billion riyals this coming Monday and that the program aims to boost industry, mining, energy and logistics.

Al-Falih’s announcement came during a press conference held on Saturday alongside Saudi Transport Minister Nabil Al-Amoudi ahead of the program’s launch on Monday as part of 13 programs within the Saudi Vision 2030 program.

“We will witness the signing of contracts worth 200 billion riyals during the launch of the program with more than 330 initiatives under its umbrella, one third of which will achieve the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030. There will be a large private sector participation from outside the Kingdom alongside a large share of the private sector from inside Saudi Arabia,” Al-Falih told reporters.

For his part, Saudi Transport Minister Al-Amoudi announced plans for five new airports and 2,000 km of railways, revealing further that there would be 60 initiatives within the logistics sector worth more than 165 billion riyals.