19th Jan 2008
JEDDAH, 19 January 2008 — Singaporean Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew expressed yesterday his concern regarding how to fill the estimated 1.3 million jobs required to operate the Kingdom’s six economic cities during a visit to the site of the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Rabigh.
Building the projects will be “easy”, he said, compared to “the biggest challenge” of filling the vacancies.
Yew, described as one of Asia’s Heroes by Time magazine, made his comments during a tour of the premises. During a presentation by Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) Governor Amr Al-Dabbagh, Yew stopped him as he was talking about the number of jobs these projects will create. He then asked what the ratio of Saudis to non-Saudis would hold these jobs, and which of the six cities will get first picks of Saudis who have excelled at studies abroad.
Fahd Al-Rashed, deputy governor of SAGIA for Economic Cities, said that foreigners would hold 80 percent of the positions and that the long-term plan was to eventually phase in Saudis until the percentage of foreigners working at these cities was reduced to 30 percent.
“SAGIA has created a human resources strategy,” added Al-Rashed.
Hosam Joma, executive director for projects at KAEC, also presented the master plan and development update. Nidal Jamjoom, executive director for commercial affairs at KAEC gave an overview of the city development program and the progress made in the port and utilities development.
The delegation evaluated the KAEC model and they were briefed on the six components of the project: the Sea Port, Industrial Zone, Central Business District, Educational Zone, Resort Zone and Residential Communities.
Yew’s delegation was composed of Zainul Abidin Rasheed, a senior minister at the Foreign Affairs Ministry; Yong Pung How, member of the Council of Presidential Advisers; Zaqy Mohamad, a member of Parliament; V.P. Hirubalan, Singapore’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia; Philip Yeo, special adviser for economic development; and other government officials and Singaporean media representatives.
“Saudi Arabia is the largest trading partner of Singapore in the Middle East, and over the years, the two countries have formed strong partnerships to boost bilateral trade and investments,” said Al-Dabbagh upon welcoming the delegation. “Apart from opening a representative office of SAGIA in Singapore, the two countries have signed a cooperation agreement and recently formed the Saudi-Singapore Business Forum.”
The 168-million square-meter KAEC is the single largest private sector development in the region and is located the Red Sea coast offering easy access to the two Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah, and the commercial nerve-center of Saudi Arabia, Jeddah.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=105849&d=19&m=1&y=2008&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom
