Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim AlKhorayef, who is also Chairman of National Industrial Development Center (NIDC), announced that the industry and mining sector is working with relevant authorities to attract 50 investment opportunities worth more than SAR 96 billion in the machinery and equipment sector.
The investment opportunities, which have been developed and uploaded on the Invest Saudi platform, aim at activating the National Industry Strategy (NIS), which seeks to expand the industrial base in the Kingdom, reduce imports by up to 50%, and work towards exporting products to regional and global markets.
AlKhorayef indicated that among the largest projects achieved during 2021 and 2022 are three projects for casting and forging, which are considered among the inputs of the machinery and equipment sector, and one of the basics of the NIS, with investments exceeding $1 billion.
The minister noted that these projects would contribute to establishing complete value chains from raw materials to finished products and replacing imports of casted and forged products, as well as manufacturing valves and pumps with investments amounting to $119 million.
The minister added that the NIDC has worked the past two years with investors in the Saudi Arabian Schneider Electric Company's project for a production line for the product “Altivar Modular Drives” by providing data, information, and a study report for supply chains.
Moreover, AlKhorayef revealed that the “Future Factories Program,” an initiative adopted by the Ministry, seeks to automate factory operations. Consequently, he said, the machinery sector has developed an investment opportunity that it is working on now with a potential investor to assemble its industrial robotic arms, which are in its initial stage as a step to develop the robotics industry in the Kingdom.