East to West, Saudi is the best!

By Conrad Egbert
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has proved itself to be the region's biggest and mightiest, yet again.

In the midst of the financial crises when rumours of a final round of ‘manpower streamlining' have sent companies scrambling for cover, Saudi Arabian Bechtel Company (Sabco) steps out into the light and expresses it's desire to hire 70 employees at the end of this year, to support its Jubail Industrial City expansion project.

Is it just my imagination or is there any sort of recession happening down there at all?
With a 2009 budget of US $880 million (SAR3.3 billion), a 35% to 40% increase from the previous year, Jubail Industrial City includes the development of Jubail Two - an 84km2 industrial zone for petrochemical related industries, and a four 10km2 residential district, a 195km heavy rail network, a university for 18,000 students and labour housing for 12,000.

And as if this wasn't enough, last week Saudi Binladen and French defence specialist Thales signed a $500 million signaling and security systems contract for the main 1800km section of the monstrous $2 billion North-South Railway Project.

And next week, you'll probably hear of a few more contracts that happened to fall out of the bag along the way and were inadvertently picked up by some unsuspecting but welcoming contractors.

Maybe it's time to head down to the Kingdom to look for some work. Arabtec certainly didn't waste any time getting down there.

And with our Saudi Arabia Conference in Jeddah only a month away, you'll have to excuse me. I need to go pack.

WAMY supports 1,000 Gaza students

P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News

JEDDAH: The office of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) in Makkah province is sponsoring 1,000 Palestinian students at the Islamic University in Gaza, said Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, head of the committee for providing emergency relief for the people of Gaza.

“The sponsorship of a single student costs the organization $1,000,” Al-Ghamdi said, adding that the Palestinian students, receiving WAMY scholarships, are attending courses in engineering, medicine, computer science, business administration, education and sciences.

Al-Ghamdi made the statement while attending a ceremony at WAMY headquarters in Jeddah to honor its officials who worked for Gaza relief.

Jamal Al-Khodari, head of the Popular Committee to Confront the Israeli Siege, commended the support of Saudi Arabia and its people to the Palestinians. He also praised WAMY’s relief work for the people of Gaza.

“All relief assistance provided by this charitable organization has reached the hands of deserving people in Palestine,” Al-Khodari told the gathering.

“About 50 percent of university students in Palestine, especially those at the Islamic University in Gaza, are unable to pay their fees,” he said.

Leadership training

WAMY’s office in Dammam said it would organize a leadership training program for students from Class X to XII on Thursday and Friday.

The program includes a .

Those who want more information on the program may contact: youthclubwamyep@gmail.com