Fatima Muhammad
JEDDAH — Sa’ad Mariq, the general supervisor of Takamul Development Center, who is also the consultant of Prince Khalid Al-Faisal noted Monday that the center has worked on supporting 17 development projects in Makkah region out of 1600 grad to medium development projects in the region. The projects are in Makkah, Jeddah, Taif and Laith. According to him all the projects which they support are adhering to different criteria and the center is helping projects overcome the challenges that face them. The center is also reviewing more projects.
Asked about the delay in working out development projects of Jeddah public districts compared to the speed development of Makkah public districts, he explained that the delay is due to number of complications that faced these projects in Jeddah, among which is the difficulty in reaching agreement with private sector on projects costs. In total, there are four development projects of public districts in Makkah and two in Jeddah, noted Mariq. He further said they are opting to build relations with different parties and added that they do not play any supervision role on the private sector but rather they are encouraging and supporting it.
The center has 18 members who represent the public, private sector and funding associations. The center, he elaborated, does not serve small businesses but grand development projects.
The main challenges facing this sector are the poor participation of the private sector, absence of rightful planning and prearrangements between different sectors involved, delay in implementing projects, absence of involvement of qualified locals, and absence of information about investment opportunities.
Mariq was speaking at Jeddah Commercial Forum which was inaugurated by Jeddah Governor Prince Mishal Bin Majid on Monday under the theme: “Through Partnership and Investment We Form the Future.”
Nashwa Tahir, the chairperson of Jeddah Commercial Forum, called on strengthening cooperation between private and public sectors through dialogue. She further demanded establishing a commercial environment that is capable of attracting foreign investments and handle all challenges and issues that face investment processes. She noted that the International Monetary Fund stated that the Kingdom will have 2.2% growth rate in 2016.
Tahir noted that recent economic reports revealed that the Saudi non-oil sector is capable of enhancing the production by increasing investment in industry sector, developing attractive infrastructure to get more local and foreign investments, supporting the tourism sector and creating job opportunities for youth.
