The General Investment Authority (GIA) has issued 94 licences with joint and foreign capital during the Hijrah calendar month of Safar (April 25 to May 23) for projects worth SR1.3732 billion ($366 million). For the same period, the GIA issued licences for 56 new industrial projects at a total cost of SR427.3 million.

Construction work on National Petrochemical Industrialisation Company's (NPIC) proposed SR2 billion ($533 million) petrochemical plant in Jubail will start in the second half of the year and is expected to come on stream in late 2003, according to an NPIC statement The plant will produce 450,000 tonnes annually of polypropylene, a plastic mainl

Al Babtain Industries, which recently introduced two types of streetlighting luminaires, is currently implementing projects worth more than $16 million in the Gulf region. The company also recently completed a contract in Ethiopia and was scheduled to complete another in Cyprus last month.

The Saudi Iron and Steel Company (Hadeed), an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), has accused Russian and Indian manufacturers of steel sheets of dumping in the Saudi market.

$100m pipe plant on cards Aziz Corporation Limited has signed a deal with a European firm to build a $100 million plant to manufacture pipes to carry oil and gas, an official in the Saudi company said.