Word: dabbagh
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Dabbagh has no doubt that if he builds it, they will come. The governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) is one of the forces behind King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), a $27 billion development rising out of the desert 62 miles (100 km) north of Jeddah, and he can already envision the arrival of its first residents. "It won't be long before it starts taking shape," he says...
...Dabbagh and his backers insist they're not trying to out-Dubai Dubai--or anybody else--and that the new cities are meant to solve pressing economic and demographic problems: with 60% of its population under the age of 25, Saudi Arabia needs to create millions of jobs and homes for young people who will come of age in the next five years. This "youth bulge" will create a demand for 6 million residential units in the next 12 years; that's a million more units than were built in the past 60 years. "When you have demand on that...
...owned and will probably generate several downstream businesses. The ownership is crucial; in the past, the only way foreign companies could operate in the kingdom was through joint ventures and local agents--many of whom brought no skills and little capital to the partnership. With that barrier gone, al-Dabbagh hopes investors will pour in: he expects the new cities to generate more than $100 billion in foreign investment. Saudi businesses may kick in two or three times as much...
...Dabbagh is working to remove other barriers as well and crack the Top 10 on competitiveness lists prepared by the World Economic Forum and the World Bank. Since 2005, SAGIA has been pressing the notoriously sclerotic government bureaucracy to become more investor-friendly, simplify procedures and cut back on paperwork. Dahlia Khalifa, an economist on the World Bank team that produces the Doing Business report, credits Saudi Arabia with "consistent reforms over the past three years...
...sprinted up the World Bank's list, from 67th in 2005 to 16th in 2008, making it the easiest place to do business in the Middle East. In that time, foreign investment in Saudi Arabia has nearly doubled, to $23 billion. "Foreign businesses are looking at us differently," al-Dabbagh boasts. Companies with a long history of working in the kingdom say they've noticed the difference. "The say/do factor has improved significantly," says Nabil Habayeb, GE's CEO for the Middle East and Africa. "When the government tells investors it will do something, it usually gets done...